Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God our Father and
from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, this evening's theme is
about the first article of the Apostle's Creed. "God the Father Almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth…" It has crept in and continues to creep into
television shows you and I thumb through. Whether it's Discovery Channel or
National Geographic Channel or Science Channel, something is made of the point
that there is not “God who created the heavens and the earth”. It is all
explained with science.
Now science has, at times, come into conflict with the
Church. And science, at times, has come into conflict with itself. The
difficulty is: honesty with science. When God gave us the first chapters of the
book of Genesis to explain how everything came into being that has come into
being, He did not go into intricate science detail in order to explain all of
the hows. In other words, He really said, "I am the Creator." And it
is an article of our faith. It is not…it is not a provable matter beyond a
shadow of a doubt with science. It never will be.
No different than Christ's resurrection is not a provable fact
with science. His healing of the blind man, his raising of Lazarus…none of
those miracles of our Lord Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, are provable by
science, and yet they are a part of our faith. They are the groundwork of our
faith, for they come from and are illumined to us by Scripture, which is the
same thing that illumines us of God being the Creator of the heavens and the
earth, of things visible and invisible.
In fact, I hope you notice that in the Colossians text, in
verse 16 it talks about all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible
and invisible by Him. But the Him…the Him is not just God the Father. The Him
is God the Son, the Word, spoken. That is exactly how God chose to create the
heavens and the earth. He verbalized and articulated words in a sentence,
"Let there be light," and it was. "Let there be sun, moon, and
stars." And there were. "Let there be made this man out of the
dust." And there was. "Let Me draw forth from him to create
woman." And there was.
God did it all with Word and He has not stopped creating
with His Word since, for that is how you came into faith. When God spoke
you into faith in you baptism with Word being proclaimed over you. And that
which was dead, though it cannot be proven by science, was raised to life. Though
it cannot be proven by science that which was an enemy of God though it cannot
be proven by science, has been made a child of God, though it cannot be proven
by science. It is an article of faith and that article of faith is what you and
I stand on, not on science.
Now with this concept, it is easy to just look at God the
Father and completely ignore the Son and the Word spoken. And yet, how were you
formed in your mother's womb? By chance? How were you constructed and knit
together? By science and biology? Ever since God created male and female and
gave them the gift of procreation, has God through that Word continually
created life. You are a result of His creating hand still being present. He
gives it and He alone can take it away.
In the psalm you and I sang, "The God who made heaven
and earth and the sea and all that is in them," and again, you heard from
the holy Gospel of John, "All things were made through Him and without Him
(that is the Word, the spoken Word of creation by the Father) was anything made
that has been made." But how sorrowful in the tenth verse of John's gospel
the world was made through Him yet the world did not know Him.
Interesting indeed throughout this world, that there are
cultures that are looked upon by first-world nations as being third-world
nations…politically or economically, and religiously are looked upon as being
beneath us because they don't see the world through the eyes of science. They
look at this world as being very much created by God, whoever that god may be. It
is really first-world nations that struggle with the concept of a deity
creating this world and of a deity knitting you in your mother's womb.
You and I have been given the gift in our baptism as God's
baptized child to confess our faith in the Father who is the Creator of all
things, and it is not explained nor proven by science. And in fact, science in
this world will pick at your and my faith, pummel it regularly, shouting at us
and yelling at us and castigating us to prove, prove, prove! It is not our job
to prove. Our job is to proclaim what we believe as God's baptized child. God
will do that in and of Himself.
Now there is a moderating position, which many in the world
like to take up. The biggest church in the world that has taken this moderating
position is the Roman Catholic Church. Where they say what has been explained
by science was done by God the Father in His creating of the world as if evolution
and all that goes along with it, in God creating everything in six days comes
together and that's really how it's all done. That, my brothers and sisters, is
a compromise…a very large compromise.
A kowtowing to science and reason and not an elevation of
God's revelation to us in Christ Jesus where the Word was spoken, where things
became what they are by Him calling them into being. That is how God has done
things. Why is it so important? Isn't it interesting that there are many
Christians who are willing to blend this moderating position? What keeps them
from blending the position that Christ died for the ungodly? What keeps them
from blending the position that God doesn't come to you in water and word? God
doesn't feed you His flesh and blood with bread and wine. God does not speak to
you through a word written by fallible men. Exactly.
It begins to erode at the very foundation of your and my
faith for in that holy Word did God reveal Himself as Creator through that Word
of God Jesus Christ who has been made manifest to you and brought to you. This
is our faith. This is your and my confidence. Let science say what it wants to
say. We know by faith what God has revealed in the name of the One through whom
He created all things, Jesus. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your
hearts and minds on Christ Jesus, to life everlasting, Amen.
