" IN MODERN LIFE I CONFESS THAT MY FATHER IS THE WORLD’S CREATOR ."

Scripture Reading:
Matthew 6:19-34

Singing:  (Psalms and Hymns are from the "Book of Praise" Anglo Genevan Psalter)
Psalm 148:1,2
Psalm 33:2
Psalm 73:8
Psalm 62:5,6,7
Psalm 146:3,4,5

Beloved Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Lord’s Day 9 is about "God the Father and our Creation". That topic automatically sends our thoughts to the distant past, to the time of Genesis 1. That mental travel in turn drives a wedge between the material of this Lord’s Day and our specific circumstances today. For what, we wonder, has ‘long ago’ got to do with ‘today’? As I struggle to make ends meet, as the children insist on that pair of shoes (twice the price, of course), as I’m trying to sort out how big the new home entertainment unit should be, what value has a Lord’s Day that wants us to think of God’s act of creation so many thousands of years ago?? Isn’t that just too remote from today?

It is true, congregation, that Lord’s Day takes our thoughts back to Genesis 1. But we have to notice that that is not where the first accent in this Lord’s Day lies! Rather, this Lord’s Day would lay a finger on our circumstances today. Look at the first sentence of the answer. If you peal away all the clauses and the sub clauses, you are left with this sentence: "the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ … is … my God and my Father." "Is", present tense: you can’t get more here-and-now than that! With this Lord’s Day we’re saying –while are hands are dirty with the grit and grim of this life- we’re saying that we have a Father.

How God became our Father we can leave to one side for now. Fact is: for Jesus’ sake He established His covenant of grace with each one of us in our infancy, so that today He is our Father and we are His children. The bigger and pressing question on our mind today is this: what kind of a Father is this God? In a very unbelieving and very materialistic world, what value, what comfort, what instruction is there in knowing that your Father is none else than the world’s Creator?

I summarize the sermon with this theme:

For this reason:
 

This morning, brothers and sisters, with the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, we were directed to fix our attention on the things above, and not on the things of this earth. That instruction from Col 3 applied specifically to the work of Jesus Christ on the cross and its consequences for how we live on this earth.

As it is, this instruction to focus on things above holds true also in relation to the confession of Lord’s Day 9. Today our eyes see the bricks of this building and our lips savor the Sunday cake. Tomorrow our eyes see the huge pile of laundry and the bills the mailman brings. These are all earthly things, things that fill our minds, demand our attention, drain our energy. But the Lord would not have these things be the focus of our attention. He Himself made this world, with everything in it that we see and hear and taste and smell. All of it, the Lord would have us know, speaks of Him, tells His glory. That is to say: creation reveals who the Creator is, and it’s on him our eye must be focused – if we are to receive any comfort in the rush of this life.

How, you wonder, does creation reveal the Creator? According to Genesis 1, God created the world, and did so by His Word of command. "God said, ‘Let there be light; and there was light…. So the evening and the morning were the first day." Again, "Then God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth grass…’; and it was so…. So the evening and the morning were the third day."

Question. When God commanded the existence of light, how long did it take for the light rays to appear? When God commanded the earth to bring forth grass, how long before clover covered a given space of ground? We are accustomed to answering those questions with, "Instantly." To justify such an answer, we appeal, eg, to Ps 33, where the Holy Spirit has the psalmist say concerning God’s work in creation that "He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast" (vs 9). Instant.

But we live, brothers and sisters, in today’s world. Our world has embraced the theory of evolution, and so the notion that this earth evolved over a space of billions upon billions of years. Last week I mentioned that this evolution theory has no place for God; evolution assumes that God does not really exist. That puts the evolution theory at opposite poles to Christianity, for Christianity insists that God does exist. But did you know: there is also a half-way position between the evolutionists and the Christians? This half-way position says: the Bible tells us that God created the world, but doesn’t give us details on how He did it. Science tells us that the world has existed for billions and billions of years, and that over the span of these billions of years plants and animals evolved from primitive matter to the complex organisms we see around us today. This half-way position, now, says that the Lord God created this world by means of the evolution process. This teaching is called Theistic Evolution, a phrase that translates to mean: God-driven evolution. So, says this teaching, we have to understand that the Lord God determined to make light, and in the course of millions and billions of years the light God wanted evolved to the point as it exists today. Similarly, God determined to make grass, and in the course of millions and billions of years grass evolved from initial single-celled living matter into the clovers and rye grasses and kikuyi of the completed development today. What happens, then, to the ‘day’ of Genesis 1? Each of the six days of creation, Theistic Evolution says, were in effect ages of millions of years, certainly not the normal day we are used to.

What do you think, brothers and sisters, of this teaching? That question is important because there are churches around the world who call themselves conservative and Bible-believing –some even have the same confessions we have- and yet leave room for or embrace this Theistic Evolution. Do you think this teaching agrees with God’s revelation? And: does this teaching influence daily living?

In reply to this teaching, congregation, I want to say two things. In the first place, the Lord God uses the word ‘day’ various times in the course of the Bible. It’s very obvious that the term ‘day’ in the gospels describes a normal day, as we are used to it. And the fact of the matter is that the Lord Himself does not give any indication that we are to understand the term ‘day’ in Genesis 1 as different from the customary. If He yet meant something different than the normal understanding, would that not mean that we couldn’t take God’s words at face value? If the word ‘day’ in Genesis 1 means something different than the common understanding, does the word ‘resurrection’ later in the Bible also mean something different than we expect? You see, Theistic Evolution questions God’s integrity, questions whether God actually says what He seems to say.

There’s a second aspect that needs our attention, one that reaches to the heart of our confession in Lord’s Day 9. If the Lord God gave a command for grass to develop, and then sat back for millions of years while grass slowly evolved, what does that say of God’s power? Contrast that, now, with the picture you get when you read Genesis 1 at face value. God said, "Let there be grass," and presto, there it was. God said, "Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth…," and instantly it was so. There was no grass, no fish, no bird; God spoke, and they were there, a field of grass flowing in the breeze, trout and salmon and dolphins cruising through the water, canaries singing the trees, thornbills picking seeds off the grass. "He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast" – and so God displayed His majesty, His power. In fact, that’s why the angels of God burst forth into songs of praise on the day of creation! (Job 38:7). The critical question in the discussion of theistic evolution is this: who do you think God is? Big enough to create in an instant? Or a God that needs time, very much time, to get things right?

That question, of course, congregation, touches our personal lives directly. The Lord God established with each of us His covenant of grace, so that today He is our Father and we are His children. But: what sort of Father is He? Is He a mighty God, so great that He uttered one word, and the grasses of the field and the birds of the air came instantly into being as we see them today? Or is He a small God, who needed millions of years with trial and error to perfect the grasses and birds we see around us today?

Ours is a world of much anxiety. That’s because life is so fast, it’s also because September 11 showed how vulnerable we were to terrorists. In a world of anxiety, of change, of distrust and betrayal, we confess that the Creator is our Father, our Father is the Creator. Is there sufficient encouragement in His identity to comfort us in anxious times? Who really is this Creator that’s become our Father?

The Lord Jesus Christ answered this question for His disciples. I refer now to the last part of the passage we read from Mt 6. Jesus was outside, addressing His disciples in the Sermon on the Mount. He tells them how to manage their worry and stress. What they have to do? No, not go boating or take a holiday. Instead, vs 26, they have to "look". Lord at what? "Look at the birds of the air." For all I know, as Jesus was speaking to His disciples on the mountain side, there were seagulls from the lake nearby floating on the breezes. But Jesus’ point, of course, applies to us in our backyards too. On the back fence is a willy-wagtail twisting his tail this way and that, hopping off the fence to snatch up a passing bug, darting into a tree to pick up a mosquito…. Where did that seagull of long ago, that willy-wagtail of today, come from? There was a time when those birds weren’t there. God spoke, and there they were, perfect birds, the descendants of which sit on the fence today…. How do they know how to catch insects? How to build a nest? How to feed their young? How to fly? Jesus’ point: see there, disciples, your God! "The heavens declare the glory of God," and so do the birds that fly through the heavens. God spoke, and it was done, He commanded, and instantly it stood forth. With such a God as your Father, Jesus asks His disciples, are you not safe, completely safe? See in creation who your Father is!

And to impress the point on His disciples the Lord also told them to "consider the lilies" growing yonder. The disciples were to look at them, and they were to place themselves under the instruction caught in the shape and the color and the beauty of those lilies. Lovely orange petals curved and shaped just so, with that black line running up the middle of each petal, and the pistol up the center of the flower, and if you look long enough you see a bee coming along to feed in the flower. Where did that lily come from? It wasn’t there, then the God who has become your Father spoke, and presto, it was there – ancestor to the plant in front of you now. Solomon had his seamstresses working day in day out to make for him and his family garments worthy of royalty. But God in a moment dressed up that lily more beautifully than Solomon’s favorite daughter could ever be dressed. What a God, to make something so precise, so beautiful, at a word! You see, creation reveals the Creator, draws out the majesty and power of the God who has become your Father for Jesus’ sake!

If such a God is your Father, why be anxious? Will He not care well for you? Should I be anxious because of what terrorists might do? Should I be worked up because of what my doctor tells me? Should I be uptight because things at work aren’t turning out the way I wish? "Be anxious about nothing," says the Lord, "but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Phil 4:6f). Your Father made the birds, and made the cotton in the laundry pile. He made the flowers, and He made the paper on which your bill is written. And all these parts of His creation spell out His greatness and His majesty! Lift up your eyes then on high, to the Creator-who-is-your-Father-for-Jesus’-sake. By showing you His creation He would give you so much comfort.

But the fact of the matter is that we get anxious, and that brings us to our second point:

You see, we look at the bricks of our house, and we say: it’s not big enough, we need a new house. Or we look at the pile of laundry, and we say: that shirt is out of style, I should get him a new one. Or we look at the work of the decisions we’ve made, and we say: that was stupid; whatever will people think of me! Stress.

Jesus’ instruction to look at the birds and the lilies came in a context. He tells the twelve in vss 25-34 not to worry, not to be anxious about food or drink or clothing, but notice that vs 25 begins with the word ‘therefore’. In other words, the section about the birds and the flowers is tied directly to the preceding section of Jesus’ sermon, vss 19-24.

What Jesus says in those verses? It all boils down to instruction to worship not the creature but the Creator. Look at vs 19: "do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal." Jesus mentions two possible locations for your treasure: heaven and earth. Heaven: that is the dwelling of the Creator, and that is Jesus’ point: fix your eye on the Creator, your Father by covenant for Jesus’ sake. Earth, on the other hand, is that which the Creator made, this creation, what the eye sees. This creation, though, is vulnerable. You can put treasures of clothes in your wardrobe, only to find after some time that the moths have eaten holes into your favorite jumper. You can save up treasures of denarii, but rust can get into your money bag, or thieves can walk away with it, and what you have left? Jesus’ point is: everything of this creation is temporary and passes away. In fact, when Jesus returns on the last day, this whole earth will be burned, included everything that we’ve worked so hard to achieve. What moths and rust and thieves do today with your jumpers and cars and handbags simply foreshadows the big destruction that Jesus Christ will unleash on the world on the last day. And all of it together points up that the important thing is not what’s created; important is the Creator. The birds and the lilies, the fabric of our clothing and the metal of our cars all remind us of the Creator – your Father! But why, O why, should people then treasure what’s created - as if the created thing could exist apart from the Creator, is an end in itself?! No, beloved, it will not do to keep our eye fixed on creation; that is perversion before God (cf Rom 1:25).

Jesus is empathic on the point. Vs 22: "The lamp of the body is the eye." If that eye is focused on created things –be it having nice clothes or a comfortable car or a bigger house or even things going your way in business or church life- if that eye is focused on created things, the whole body is going to be full of darkness. Conversely, if that eye is focused on the Creator who made what’s around us (and still upholds it all), then one’s whole being and one’s view of life also is healthy – even though you wear out-of-style clothes or drive an old bomb, or things don’t go the way you wish in business or church life. It’s when the eye is focused on what’s created, on things of this earth, that you get bogged down on things of this earth, and eventually you can’t see past your nose to the Creator who’s meant to be your focus. And that’s to say that you’re filled with darkness; your life is dark, your future dark, everything dark. And so you become cynical and bitter….

Jesus repeats the matter in vs 24. "No one," He says, "can serve two masters." In the context, the two possible masters Jesus refers to are the Creator and the creature. Either you will hate the Creator and love the creature (and then the point is that you are not giving God your full attention and that’s what God calls ‘hatred’), or you will be loyal to God and despise what’s created – and the point is that you set proper priorities, devote your attention to God and leave the brokenness on this earth for God to sort out in His time and manner. But to focus on Mammon - and that’s to say on matter, on material things, created things- to focus on Mammon is to get your eye off the Creator. That will never do, for that’s what leads to worry, anxiety, stress. Hence Jesus’ instruction in vs 33: "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." That is: keep your focus on God the Creator, and get your focus off created things – be it the old shirt in the laundry pile or the fact that your neighbor has a faster boat than you. Get your eye on the God who created and cares for the birds and the flowers, because this God is your Father for Jesus’ sake and He will supply all your needs as long as He gives you life in this creation.

Here, my brothers and sisters, is room for serious self-examination. We live in a culture that is very earth-centered and very materialistic. The well-being of our country is measured by the strength of the economy. The prosperity and affluence of our society doesn’t pass us by, and certainly we may thank the Lord for the abundance He gives. But with the abundance comes the grave temptation to move the eye away from the Creator and fix it instead on created things. As if we have to have that bigger house, that nicer car, that special holiday, that new jacket, those trendy shoes…. The desire to have it reflects an earth-centeredness, materialism. Think it through, beloved: if your treasure is in heaven, if your eye is fixed on the Creator, is the opinion of your peers about your shoes or your boat of any importance to you? Moth, rust, thieves, depreciation, inflation, the fire on the last day will destroy all your treasures. Why, then, insist on the latest and the best? The eye has to be on the Creator, and He promises to supply all His children in Jesus Christ with all they need. The eye has to be on the Creator, and that’s to say that every dollar He gives, and every boat and every bike and every boot also, is to be used to His glory and honor.

But the problem, congregation, lies not only in materialism. For one can be earth-centered without being materialistic. One is earth-centered, has the eye focused on creation instead of on the Creator also when one insists that things have to go one’s own way or when one can’t get passed the hurts of what people have done to you. Here again the Lord’s will is that the eye is not fixed on creatures – whether the creatures be possessions (I’ve got to have a better boat or better boots) or on people (I’ve got to get back to him for what he did to me, or: he’s got to admit he did me wrong). It’s when the focus is on creatures instead of on the Creator that we get anxious, for in the brokenness of this life we will not get the possessions we want (and if we do they will disappear on us in due time) and we can’t change people to the way we want them to be either.

Sunday by Sunday each one of us confesses with the church of all ages that "I believe in God the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth." With that confession we acknowledge that the God who established His covenant with us for Jesus’ sake is greater, infinitely greater than the creation we see, for He made it by His word of command. In our modern times we need to be consistent with that confession. We need to insist to ourselves that our Father is the Almighty, and therefore worthy of all glory and praise. And so we give Him glory and praise –how?- by fixing our focus on Him all the time.

That perspective will make us radically different from the people of our society. Earth-centered, creation-centered people are materialistic, want this, want that, and are not content with what they have. They need more, more in terms of possessions, more in terms of having their own way.

Not so those whose attention is fixed on the Creator. They know: this Creator is my Father, and so He’ll provide for all my daily needs. The things of this earth will pass away, be they possessions or people, and so I don’t need an extra this or a new that, and I don’t need it my way either. Instead, I’ll fix my eye on my Creator-Father, and I’ll trust that He supplies my every need. Soon the Lord will return on the clouds of heaven, and then this creation will be burned up, but the Creator will endure. And I, His child, will be with Him forever.  Amen.