The God Who Creates

Psalm 8, "Lord our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. You have set your glory in the heavens. Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider your heavens the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them. You have made them a little lower than angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You have made them rulers over the works of your hands. You have put everything under their feet. All flocks and herds and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. Lord our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. This is the word of the Lord." Thanks Felix for reading for us. Good morning everyone, my name is Leslie. It's great to be with you as we gather together in worship of the living God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and as Jack said, we've just begun a series called "Fandations" as we think about the apostles' creed. Let me lead us in prayer to see God's help, His guidance, to ask for His Spirit as we consider as word together. How many Father, we do thank you so much that you are the God who speaks, you have spoken, and you have created. We pray Lord that in our time together with your word open before us, that you might please continue to speak, and that you might give us ears to hear, hearts to believe, all that you would have to say to us. Amen. Please do keep the Bible passage open in front of you whether in the bulletin or in your own Bible, great Spirit of follow along. Last week we saw, before we dived into the apostles' creed itself proper, we saw that the truth is revealed in the Bible. That truth is the Lord Jesus. And the apostles' creed, these ancient words, are a helpful and received as an accurate summary of some of those core truths that are articulated, revealed to us in the Bible. And today we're thinking about the first couple of lines of that creed, where we say, "I believe in God, the Father or mighty creator of heaven and earth." The first thing we note is that names are important. And names are actually really important. Just think about this room. If I wanted to talk to someone, I'd say, "The other of you, yes, that of you." But actually if there's a name, actually it's really easy. Oh, James, Alex, Jack helps us identify who we're talking about. But the problem is that names are not always unique in this room. There are probably several James's, there are several Alex's. Here is Anne Hathaway on the left of Devil Weir's Plada fame. On the right is also Anne Hathaway. And that's actually the only sketch we have of William Shakespeare's wife, who was called Anne Hathaway. Interesting. And there are all sorts of memes on the internet that try to pair them up and suggest that they're really the same person over money. We're going to get into that. Names are important to distinguish between different people. In the case of Anne Hathaway, we're unlikely to get the two mixed up. But the question of who is God, which God I'll be talking about. The name God is used in all sorts of different ways for all sorts of different things. The God of the Bible is revealed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three persons, one God. And the Apostles Creed details these things for us. It defines for us, helps us see how the Bible speaks of and understands what we're talking about when we say the word God. And today it's the Father, almighty, the God who creates the heavens and the earth. There's so, so much that we could say about these things. There's the Bible is plenty to say to shape our understanding of these few words. We've gone with Psalm 8 today. And from this Psalm, we've got three things that teach us about creation, how to understand and think about creation, how to understand the God who creates. And then also, what are we to do with that information? How are we to live? So who is God, what is He like? What is this creation like? And how are we to live in the light of that? The first thing we see is that God is a praiseworthy creator. He's a praiseworthy creator. Creation is incredible, isn't it? And is beautifully and carefully made and crafted by a very good God. And it's made with told to reflect God's glory, to magnify his praise. The wonder of creation gives praise to God day after day. It tells us how wonderful, how good the creator is. And so John Carvinder, 16th century theologian pastor, he regularly spoke of creation as a theater of God's glory, a theater to put on display, to put on a show, to show and to reveal how great. God's glory is in every particular and careful design, every aspect of creation, very carefully prescribed and structured together in order to show off God's creativity and the abundance of creation to show forth that this God is the God of life and the interconnectedness of creation to show that God is a God of love where God relates to others and so on and so on. We could go have creation, reveal something of who God is. And so when we look at creation correctly, our minds are supposed to be drawn to the beauty of the creator to see how praiseworthy he is. Basil, the great, one of the early church fathers in the fourth century, he wrote these words, "Let us glorify the supreme artificer, the creator, for all that was wisely and skillfully made. By the beauty of visible things, let us raise ourselves to him who is above all beauty. By the grandeur of our bodies, sensible and limited in their nature, let us conceive of the infinite being, whose immensity and omnipotence surpass all the efforts of the imagination. How great is this God? We're small, we're made by him and our hearts and our minds are supposed to be lifted day by day to this infinite greatness of the God who is before all things. Creation gives praise to God." Which goes against what we often see in popular cultures, isn't it? Because in popular culture, we're often given the idea that science and Christianity are at odds with one another. As if they cannot coexist to either believe in science or you believe in God. It's either one or the other. And to be a Christian, to really be a Christian, you've got to set your mind aside and believe these things that have no reason to believe. You've got to pretend that you can't think. That's not the way the Bible works. In the apostles' creed and in the teaching of the Bible, we're told that creation is beautiful, it's worthy of exploration, it should be investigated. We should think deeply about the things in this world because when we see them rightly, when we understand the one who made it, we will give him praise. Science, as we enjoy and deepen our understanding of this world around us, science should lead to honor being given to God. And so it's a good thing for us to do science. It's a good thing for us to study the world and to understand it. It's been said at times in the past that theology is the queen of the sciences. They go together and theology sits above and beyond it all because this idea is that at various times, these different great philosophical thinkers, these great scientists have understood that science leads to understanding of God's science, leads to theology, leads to praise of God. Whether it's Isaac Newton or early philosophers like Clements of Alexandria, studying the world was just a small part of studying who God is. And so the theology, the study of God is the queen of the sciences. And so the pinnacle of human thought is when we understand creation is made by Creator. So Johannes Kepler of one of the great astrologers of the 16th century, he discovered the planetary laws of planetary motion. He said this, the chief aim of all investigations of the external world should be to discover the rational order and harmony, which has been imposed on it by God and which he revealed to us in the language of mathematics. Study the world, enjoy the world. It's a beautiful, incredible world out there. And as you enjoy it, see that it's made by a glorious creator. Whereas in the words of Sarmate of our Bible reading, O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth? You've set your glory in the heavens. Science and theology, creation and the Creator, these things are closely, closely tied together. That's what we mean when we say these words, I believe in God, the creator of the heavens. yn y ffordd yn ffordd yn y ffordd yn y ffordd yn ffordd yn ffordd yn ffordd yn y ffordd yn ffordd yn ffordd yn ffordd yn ffordd yn ffordd yn fford o gyd. A'r prasem. A yw'r ymwyr ymwyr ymwyr ymwyr ymwyr ymwyr ymwyr ymwyr ymwyr ymwyr ymwyr ymwyr ymwyr ymwyr ymw a'u gweithio'r fynd i'n gweithio'r fynd i'n gweithio'r fynd i'n gweithio'r fynd i'n gweithio'r fynd. I'n gweithio'r fynd i'n gweithio'r fynd i'n gweithio'r fynd i'n gweithio'r fynd i'n gweithio'r fynd i'n gweithio'r fynd i'n gweithio'r fynd i'n gweithio'r fynd i'n gweithio'r fynd i'n gweithio'r fynd i'n gweithio'r fynd i'n gweithio'r fynd i'n gweithio'r fynd i'n gweithio'r fynd. I wedi'r gweld i'r gweld i'r gweld i'r gweld i'r gweld i'r gweld i'r gweld i'r gweld i' Mae'r gwi'n gwi'n gwi'n gwi'n gwi'n gwi'n gwi'n gwi'n gwi'n Cymru, hynny, hynny, hynny, hynny, hynny, hynny, hynny, hynny, hynny, hynny, hynny, hynny, hynny, hynny Mae'r i'n gwybod. Mae'r i'n hynny. Mae'r i'n hynny. Mae'r i'n hynny o'n yw'r ysgwch yn yw'r Ysgwch yn yw'r Ysgwch yn Ysgwch yn Ysgwch yn Ysgwch yn Ysgwch yn Ysgwch yn Ysgwch yn 'Twyr yw'r prais yn yn ynwfens ymwfens ymwfens yn ymwfens ymwfens ymwfens ymwfens ymwfens ymwfens ymwfens ymwfens ymwfens ymwfens Iwch i'w i'w i'w i'w i'w i'w i'w i'w i'w i'w i'w i'w i'w i'w i'w i'w i'w i'w i'w i'w i'n gallu'n gallu'n gallu'n gallu'n gallu'n gallu'n gallu'n gallu'n gallu'n gallu'n gallu'n gallu'n 'Penthouse Suite's' in those luxury apartments, 'We see strength and power and a heart to join to that.' But children, the old, the infirm, the disease, the broken, so often they're pushed aside, aren't they? In contrast to who God is, what He's like, we love to set aside the weak and the poor. We love to push them to the margins of society so that we don't even have to worry about them and we might do a bit of charity, a little bit of work. Some really nice people, they all care for them, but for the rest of us. Now we love to divide the world into the strong and the weak, those who have and those who do not have, those who can and those who cannot. And so we despise, don't we? As a community so often, we despise those who are weak, those who have lost their autonomy, those who perhaps struggle to even walk or feed themselves or change themselves and isn't one of our great fears that we might become like that to lose my dignity. What about that time when I'm old? I have some terrible illness and I can't look after myself anymore. What will happen then? Who will I be? There's a sense that if I can't look after myself, if I'm not strong enough to be independent, maybe I'll be less than human, I'll be less valuable. I won't be worth anything anymore. And yet in creation, through the praise of children and infants, those who are weak and vulnerable, those who cannot care for themselves, God has called forth his praise. He's established a stronghold against his enemies, against those who go for the world's vision of power and strength and might. We're told here that in God's creation, he is valued each and every person. He provides for his people that he has made and he desires us to rely on him, to depend on him, to recognize that he is the provider, that he's not only created us, but that he's sustained us and he sustains all life. And so every person in this room, whether you're rich or poor, whether you're strong or weak, you're able or incapable, whether you're smart or stupid, whether you've got lots of money or no, or whatever it is, it doesn't matter. Are you a human here today? You're wonderfully welcome. And you're precious and loved by this father, Almighty, who loves to provide, loves to protect, who loves to nurture. And he's created humanity to depend on him. He's created the whole world to depend on him. Every moment of every day, this world is held together by the power of his word. In fact, if God, for a moment, ceased to think of us, to hold us together, I guess creation would just disappear. We'd just blip away, but he holds us together. Life is found in him where needy of him. And so to be needy is to be human. And so dependency is built into this world. There was a funny thing that I came across a number of years ago that's kind of stuck in my head. You know, trees, trees just grow, right? Trees are very good at growing. People have tried to see what it would be like to grow a tree in space. Let's say we try to colonize the moon, what would it be like to try to grow a tree there? Actually, it'd be really hard for lots and lots of reason, but not least because of the lack of wind. Actually, if there's no wind in a certain space, you know, you put it under a big dome and there's no natural wind, the tree will fall and die. That the wood will become brittle. The roots will not grow deep. It needs that push against it. This whole world is designed so that everything depends on one another. We all need it one more time. You get rid of all the insects of one person. part of place, it has a knock on effect on the rest of the ecosystem. More and more we're seeing that this world is dependent on other parts of the world. That's the way God has made it to help us to see that we are a needy people and we depend on the Lord God to give us life and to sustain our own life. So what do we mean when we say that God is the Father Almighty? We're saying that He is the one who gives life, He is the way and one that sustains life and we're created to depend on Him. And how does that shape the way we live? Well, there's all sorts of ways in which that plays out, isn't it? But it means firstly that we're willing to rely on others. Let's reject the world's lie, that the best life is the independent life. The best life is a strong life where you don't need anyone, where you can do everything by yourself, for yourself. Actually we're built for community and community only really works when you need one another and when you are needed by others. And so you come to this church to receive not just a sermon, not just a singer song, but to be served by others and to serve one another. As we look around those who are sitting next to you, to be a Christian, to believe that God is Father Almighty means to believe as we look at one another, those words I need you. And you need me. And so we come together for community to be church, not just to turn up, but to relate to one another. Independence is not an absolute good and we're not to despise those who are weak, those who have clearly identified firewood dependencies, but we're to cherish them. It's worth reflecting on who am I needed by and who is it that I need? What does it mean to come to church to develop those sorts of relationships? Thirdly and lastly, the privilege of humanity, that's one of the things we pick up from the Psalm, the praiseworthy creator, fatherly care and creation, and also the privilege of humanity. Humanity is an incredible and central part of God's creation. We're not just like the animals. When crowned versus five or six with glory and honor, we're made an image of God and therefore given rule over creation. And so we're to be strong and to have dominion over this world. It's good and right for us to rule. It's not just an accident, not just an evolutionary chance that we have opposable thumbs and that means we're able to grasp onto things and create tools and cook food and make fires and suddenly we've made computers. We're given rule and dominion over this world by the Lord because there's a particular privilege given to us. And so the Psalm speaks of how humanity has made a little lower than the angels. We're given this reminder that we're not ruler over all creation. There is a spiritual world. There's the heavenly realms that we're not rulers over. And yet we are given rule and authority here and now over the beasts of the air, the fish of the sea, the flocks on the herds. We are given some rule and authority, some dominion over this world. There is a special place for humans. But the Bible tells us also that this passage is not primarily about us. And Hebrews 2, if you remember that book, we studied earlier this year. And Hebrews chapter 2, we're told that this Psalm is not principally about us, but it's about the Lord Jesus Christ. This Psalm teaches us about Jesus who is made a little lower than the angels. He comes down to earth from heaven to become one of us to join in with humanity and then is one day raised to new and everlasting life. He's raised up and given the name above every name that act the name of Jesus every knee should bear in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue should acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. And this comes together. Humanities roll our privilege. The centrality of Jesus that this is, the one that the Psalm is all about. This comes all together in the life of Jesus as we are united to him. You see, that's our greatest privilege as humans. Not only to be made in the image of God's sin to reflect him at a distance, but to be brought into the life of the one who is the image of the living God. We're brought in to the life of Jesus. So when we speak of the church, the Bible says the church is the body of Christ. We are his life. Very much like a wife is the body of the husband. So the church is the body of Christ. We share in his life. In his coming down to humanity, he brings us into himself and he raises up to heaven to be with him. And as it says in one Corinthians chapter 6, we'll share in his glory, in his authority, and we will judge even the angels will be made, even above the heavenly realms. And that's an amazing privilege that's given to us, that we have a particular role in this world to rule in it as we share in God's glory. What does that mean for us? It means that humanity is wonderfully privileged, as we've been saying, that we have this great joy of sharing in the life of God, and that shapes the way we live because this is the heart and the roots of what it means to believe in intrinsic human value and dignity. Know the idea that every single person is valuable, that every single person is precious, whether you're a boy or a girl, or whether you have one skin color or another skin color, whether you speak one language or another, whether you've got a disability or not, the idea that every single person has got value is a Christian idea. It's not obvious in the world that this is how to do things. We're just hearing about the Cedar Fund, and there are many places in the world where women, for example, are seen as less than human. Of course they do see that because they don't have the Christian God, they don't believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of the heavens and the earth. And many times throughout history, people of certain skin color have been treated or even in the present, have been treated badly, worse, subhuman because of something about them. Yet we believe in it. If you're a human, you have intrinsic human value and dignity because you share in the privilege of all humanity that you are to be crowned with glory and honor. You reflect the glory of God most high. This should change the way we treat one another. This should shape very, very explicitly how we relate to those around us when you go to work, when you relate to family members, when you go to the restaurants. Now, how do you think about the street cleaners or those who throw the rubbish bins away? Those who work in less than pleasant circumstances, do we look down on them? Do we show them a bit of contempt? Or do we actually treat them like people who are made in the image of God, who share in his glory and splendor, who are created as co-era as rulers with the living God? How does it change the way you think about yourself? Who are you? What's your value? We talk about this a lot here, is it your bank balance? Is it your job title? Ah, I've got a promotion, therefore I'm what? I'm more, I'm greater, I'm better? No, no, no. I'm great because the Lord Jesus has made me and loves me because I'm precious to him. More great, each one of you because you're made by the Lord Jesus, your precious to him, you're called to enjoy him and share in his glory and his splendor. My value, my worth, is found in the Lord Jesus, who has united himself to humanity and who therefore shares all his glory, all his splendor, all his majesty with us. We're great because of what God has done and not because of the things that we have done. It's an incredible Psalm, it's an incredible creed that each time we share in these words as we say, I believe in God, the Father almighty creator of heaven and earth, we're declaring all these things and more, we're declaring God's praise, we're saying all creation sings your glory and we join in with that, we give you praise for everything that is good. We recognize that all good things come from his hand, that he is the Father who cares and who provides you, sustains the world and I depend on him. That is a good thing to care for the weak, the poor, the need is good thing to depend on one another. And then lastly, there's the privilege of humanity that gives us our value, our worth, that helps us to treat others well as fellow image bearers of the Lord Jesus Christ. And to all this goes the glory of God the Father who made us and who loves us. Let me pray for us. Come to Father, we do thank you so much for the wonder of creation. Thank you that in it we see how great you are. A Lord each day would you open your eyes more and more to see who you are and what you're like. And as we see you with our hearts and our lives we changed. Would we be better able to enjoy this world that you've made, giving you glory? Would we better be able to depend on you and one another? And would we be better able to love those around us, recognizing their worth as children of yours made to reflect and to share in the life of the Lord Jesus? Help us in all these things that we ask in Jesus name. Amen.