Genesis 1
4th….
Opening remarks: This morning is part two of our Genesis series. (HG leaders the application questions were
emailed to you last night)
Prayer for illumination: please join me in prayer…
Sermon introduction: What is the greatest painting of all time? Of course this is fiercely debated since it is a
very subjective question. But most art critics agree on number one.
Number one is “the Mona Lisa” by Leonardo Da Vinci
One scholar writes- “The most famous painting of all time, the Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo da Vinci
during the Renaissance in Florence. He began painting the Mona Lisa in 1503 or 1504 and finished it shortly
before he died in 1519. The painting is named for Lisa del Giocondo, a member of a wealthy family of
Florence. In 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen by Louvre employee Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian patriot who
believed the Mona Lisa should be returned to Italy. After having kept the painting in his apartment for two
years, Peruggia was finally caught when he attempted to sell it to the directors of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
Today, the Mona Lisa hangs again in the Louvre in Paris where 6 million people see the painting each year.”
(Touropia.com)
Great works of art move us, they inspire us, they tempt us to steal, and they invoke worship. This is
why Six million people see the Mona Lisa every year. When we see a great work of art what we really
appreciate is the artist himself. Without the artist there is no artistic creation.
The greatest work of art of all time is not found on a canvas or in a museum. The greatest work of art
of all time is the creation of the universe. This brings us to Genesis chapter 1. When we ponder God’s artistic
beauty in the creation of all things, when we really understand how grand it is, it invokes our worship. We
want to worship the artist. And it is good and right to worship this artist.
Here is the point this morning- Genesis 1 encourages us to worship God for his glorious work of
creation! Why specifically should we worship God, the creator of all things? Three reasonsWe worship the God who existed before creation
We worship the God who created out of nothing
We worship the God who created all things
First, we worship the God who existed before creation
How did God exist before creation? As a triune community. Look at verse 1. “In the beginning God
created…”
We see hints of the Trinity in verse one.
The Hebrew word for God is the word Elohim and here it is in the plural form. The word for created is
in the singular form. In other words, God (plural) created (singular) all things.
We see hints of the trinity in verse 2. “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over
the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”
Furthermore, we see hints of the Trinity in verse 26. “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness.”
God is a Triune God. He is three distinct persons in one God. Before God created all things he was a
community of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This was a community of love, joy, and peace.
John 17:5 (ESV) — 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with
you before the world existed.
John 17:24 (ESV) — 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me
where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
This community of three persons existing in one God was full of love and joy!
Each member of the trinity seeking to glorify the other, rejoice in the other, and seeking to magnify the
goodness of the other.
Since God is triune community of love, love and relationship are at the very essence of reality. People
often say that God is love meaning that he is really, really, really loving. No, God really is love, love and
community is the very essence of his being!
Question- So if God existed as a perfect triune community that had no needs and was perfectly fulfilled
and content within himself why did God create all things?
Answer- God is a sharing God. He wants us to share in the fellowship of the trinity. Of course, we will
never be God but God wants us to experience the joy he experiences within himself. God wants to bring us
into the experience of love, joy, happiness, and communion that he has all the time.
Why does God want to bring us into this community of love? Because he wants to be glorified. Here
is how it works. As we experience the life of the trinity. As we experience the love, joy, and peace of God, as
we experience the other centeredness of God it fills us with Joy and we want to treat others the same way.
We want to take the life of the trinity to others. Imagine if every community was like the Trinity?
I worked on this sermon on Friday afternoon. Friday night we had a family dinner and afterwards I got
up to help my wife clean the dishes (sadly I don’t always do this). The reason I did was because I was just
thinking about the life of the trinity in my study; the trinity is an other centered community. The son lives to
glorify the father, the spirit lives to glorify the son, the father lives to glorify the son, it is a happy place. This is
what heaven is going to be like.
This changes things… theology matters.
As a Christian we can’t do anything apart from the Trinity- prayer, scripture, evangelism
The more we experience the life of God the more joy we will experience and the more we will put the
life of the trinity on display for the world to see. This glorifies God.
So why did God create anything at all? To glorify himself!
WSC Q 1- What is the chief end of man? The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.
The only way that sinful human beings can enjoy the life of the trinity is because the trinity worked
together in perfect harmony to remove our sins.
First, we worship the God who existed before creation.
Second, we worship the God who created out of nothing
I want to look at a few questionsDid God really create out of nothing? Yes. Look at verse 1 again. “In the beginning God created the
heavens and the earth”
In the beginning, that is, just before the act of creation, there was nothing but God. This is supported
by the phrase “heavens and earth” which means everything in the universe. The phrase “heavens and earth”
is a poetic expression known as a merism. According to Hebrew scholars a merism is a statement of opposites
to represent a totality. Which is why Hebrews scholars agree that “the Heavens and the Earth” means
everything in the universe.
In the beginning God created everything, which means there was nothing but God before the
beginning.
This is supported by the NT as wellColossians 1:15–16 (ESV) — 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For
by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or
rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
Romans 4:17 (ESV) — 17 as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the
presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do
not exist.
See also Heb 11:3, John 1:1-3
In the beginning God created everything out of nothing because there was nothing before God created
everything.
There were no stars
There were no galaxies
There were no solar systems
There were no black holes
There were no other Gods
There was no time, no space, or matter
There was nothing but God
But what is nothing?
1. Nothing is not empty space
2. Nothing is the absence of everything even empty space.
3. Nothing is something that rocks think about…
In the beginning there was just God; a timeless, eternal, all loving, all knowing, all powerful being who
existed as a triune community.
God did not use previously existing material. If so, that would imply that there is something eternal
besides God.
If it is true that God created out of nothing this implies that before creation he existed by himself. This
means that he has no rivals. This means that nothing is to be worshiped but God. This means that we are to
stand in awe of him, tremble at him, and adore him alone.
This also means that he is really, really powerful. More on this later…
Did God really create out of nothing? Yes!
How did God create out of nothing? His word!
There are six days of creation and each day begins with “and God said…”
verse 3. “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light on day one.
verse 6. “And God said, … Let there be sea and sky and there was sea and sky on day two.
Verse 9 “And God said, … let there be fertile earth and there was fertile earth on day three.
Verse 14 “And God said, … let there be stars for day and night and there were stars and day four.
Etc…
God said “Let there be alligators, let there be fir trees, let there be raccoons, let there be Mt. Everest,
let there be the Pacific Ocean, let there be killer whales, and let their be worms”
All together in chapter 1 we see God creating by the power of his word ten times. This is the number
of fullness or completion.
Can you imagine having this power? Sitting on the couch watching the Seahawks this afternoon. Let
there be a 90 inch flat screen television, let there be a large meat lovers pizza, let there be an ice cold coke, let
there be a Seahawks victory….
This power is unrivaled in the universe.
Psalm 33:6–9 (ESV) — 6 By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his
mouth all their host. 7 He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; he puts the deeps in storehouses. 8 Let all
the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! 9 For he spoke, and it came to
be; he commanded, and it stood firm.
God created everything out of nothing by the power of his word.
Illustration: This really floored me when I was hiking with some friends in the Wallowa’s in North
Eastern Oregon this summer.
We hiked for about five hours on a Friday afternoon and set up camp. The next day we kept hiking.
We climbed a peak called the Matterhorn that was close to ten thousand feet. On the top of the
mountain you can see mountain peaks in all directions. Look north and you see mountains, look south and
you see mountains, look west and you see mountains, look east and you see mountains. Not just mountains,
but jagged rocky peaks, some were covered in snow in late July.
While standing on top of a ten thousand foot peak that seemed to be made of solid stone I felt very
small and for a moment I pondered creation ex nihilo and to be honest I found it hard to believe in that
moment. I realized that I was standing on millions of tons of rock. I thought to myself, how did God create
this out of nothing??? This is mind boggling. We have no capacity for this because everything we see came
from something.
But God created all things by the power of his word out of nothing.
I’m going to give you two theories of origins. Which one requires more faith?
Idea one- Most secular scientist are convinced for many reasons that the universe had a beginning but
they don’t want to admit it is God so they teach that no one plus nothing equals everything. But we all know
that nothing comes from nothing. This requires just as much faith if not more faith than believing that an
eternal God created all things out of nothing.
Idea two- God the almighty and eternal creator created all things out of nothing.
At least the Bible says that someone plus nothing created everything.
Atheism says that no one plus nothing created everything.
God created all things out of nothing by the power of his word.
This is sheer power.
Application: God is still creating life by the power of his word.
Genesis 1:3 (ESV) — 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
2 Corinthians 4:6 (ESV) — 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our
hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Our hearts are dead to God because of sin. This results in spiritual blindness. We can’t see the glory of
God in the face of Christ and be changed until God shines light in our hearts. He loves to do this and it is just
as miraculous as God creating light on day one.
When he creates spiritual light in our hearts by the power of his word we start to see just how glorious
Jesus Christ is. We see him hanging on the cross for our sins and we are irresistible drawn to his love.
Are you lost in spiritual darkness, do you feel like there is no way out? Ask God to create this light in
you by the power of his word out of nothing.
We worship the God who existed before creation
We worship the God who created out of nothing
Third, we worship the God who created all things
Look with me at verse 1 again. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”. We have
already talked about the fact that God created all things out of nothing by the power of his word. All things
includes the entire universe (known and unknown).
Now I want us to focus on the size of God’s creation giving us an indication of his vast power.
I’m going to throw out some big numbers so I want you to write this downA million seconds is 12 days.
A billion seconds is 31 years.
A trillion seconds is 31,688 years.
A million minutes ago was not quite two years ago.
A billion minutes ago was just after the time of Christ.
Lets start with our tiny sunOur sun is 93 million miles away and it is one million miles in diameter.
The sun weights 330,000 times as much as the earth and you could fit over 1 million earths inside the
sun. Earth is the size of an average sunspot.
The sun seems large but it is rather tiny.
There is a star named Eta Carinae that is 5 million times larger than the sun.
There is a star named Betelgeuse that is 300 times larger than Eta Carinae
The largest star we know of is called VY Kanes Magoris and it is a billion times the size of our sun.
If the earth were a golf ball, Kanes Magoris would be the height of Mt. Everest. (Giglio) Imagine
climbing to the top of Mt. Everest (6 miles high) and pulling a little golf ball out of your coat?
Show slides or video
How about our GalaxyThere are 200 billion stars in our Milky Way Galaxy.
(a million seconds is 12 days ago and a billion seconds is 31 years ago)
6 billion of these stars have planetary systems like ours.
The Milky Way is 100,000 light years across which is an average size galaxy. (six hundred trillion miles)
It is estimated that there is an average of three million light years between galaxies in space.
The next nearest Galaxy is ten million, million, million miles away. It would take 2 million years to
reach the nearest galaxy traveling at the speed of light (186,000 miles per second).
How about our UniverseOur universe has anywhere from 125-150 billion galaxies in it.
Some estimate the universe to be over 47 billion light years across
I know that for the most part these numbers are way to huge to be meaningful.
The size of the universe has a way of shrinking us down to size! This is good. We are not the center of
the universe… God is the center of the universe!!!
We have no idea who we are dealing with… we have no idea how large of a universe we are talking
about!!! We have no idea how powerful God is.
God created all this plus Time, and space, and matter, out of nothing!
Revelation 4:11 (ESV) — 11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
Not only is God’s power displayed in how big things are it is also displayed in how small things are.
Here is just one exampleEach one of our bodies has trillions of cells in it. Each cell’s nucleus contains DNA. In each cells’
nucleus there is more information than the complete 30 volume encyclopedia Britannica. (Hughes, 27)
It is nice to know that God the creator of the universe is powerful. The original audience needed to
hear this. They did not know what we know about the size of things, but they knew God was powerful and
they were facing some challengesIs God able to deliver us from the surrounding nations?
Is God able to provide us with food in the dessert?
Is God able to make us a great nation like he promised?
Is God able to deliver me from my fears?
Maybe you have similar questions?
Is God able to help me while the economy is spinning out of control?
Is God able to help find me a Job?
Is God able to help me with this difficult child?
Is God able to help me pass my classes?
Is God able to help me overcome habitual sin?
Is God able to heal my child?
Is God able to help me stop worrying so much?
Is God able to help me stop looking at porn?
Are you kidding me??? How can we even ask these questions in light of the cosmos?
But our faith is weak, we don’t trust God, we worry and worry is a sin that needs to be punished.
Thankfully God the creator, the very word that created, is also our redeemer.
John 1:1–4 (ESV) — 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any
thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
John 1:14 (ESV) — 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory,
glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
The word of God himself, the active agent of creation, the one who spoke the cosmos into space, the
one who is worthy of our trust and worship came to earth in order to die on a cross so that we could be
forgiven.
The word became flesh and dwelled among us. This proves that the creator has raw power and is full
of unspeakable love. The one who flung the stars across the sky loves you so much that he came to suffer and
die for you so that you could be forgiven and experience the life of the trinity.
Conclusion:
According to one source these are the top ten paintings in the history of the world. See how many you
recognize.
10. The birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli
9. Water Lillies Claude Monet
8. Night Watch by Rembrandt
7. The scream by Edvard Munch
6. The Girl with the pearl Earring by Vermeer
5. Guernica by Picasso
4. The Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo
3. The Last supper by Da Vinci
2. Starry nights by Van Gough
1. Mona Lisa by Da Vinci
Literally millions of people stand in awe of this artwork every day. The talent of the artist overwhelms
them. The greatest work of art ever created is the creation of the heavens and the earth. Rightly understood
this act moves us to adore and trust the one true God. Unfortunately few people stop to ponder the master’s
handiwork all around them. Lets pray…