Tuesday, April 13, 2010

By Faith . . . Believing God Created, Part 7 of 12

TEXT: "By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible" (Hebrews 11:3).

IDEA: What we believe about how the universe began can have consequences for how we live.

PURPOSE: To help listeners realize that what they believe about God can make a profound difference in their lives.

Let's talk about God today. He's a great subject, isn't He?

Do you think that announcement will grab a lot of listeners by the ears and get them to listen?

I. Many people believe that science has done away with God.

Why do they think that? Isn't it because we are doing rather well without God?

Science has succeeded where prayer has failed in helping us respond to what happens to us.

In the past, people had a "god of the gaps," but scientists have answered in the laboratory many of the questions that we asked in the chapel.

Many believe that evolution explains creation and therefore has done away with God.

Evolution is a process, but it really doesn't explain how the world began.

The author of Hebrews sounds very "unscientific" in Hebrews 11:3: "By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible."

II. Does it really matter if we believe that God created the world or not?

If there is no God, then the universe is without meaning and life is without purpose.

People who don't believe in God can't really live without purpose.

They talk about evolution as thought it had a mind and a will.

They talk about "Mother Nature" instead of "Father God."

The universe is merely an accident. It is not the result of design. If we believe that, what are the implications?

If there is no meaning in our lives, then a baby is no more significant than a bedbug. If there is no difference between people and fleas, then what difference does it make if we step on a flea or wipe out a man?

If people are simply "things" among other "things," then it makes no sense that shooting a human being is a crime and shooting a duck is sport.

Emil Brunner said, "The most powerful of all spiritual forces is man's view of himself, the way in which he understands his nature and his destiny. It is the one force which determines all the others which influence human life" (In The Christian Understanding of Man, T. E. Jessop, ed., p. 146).

Conclusion:

Without God we accept defeat before we begin. With faith we don't live without questions, but we can live without fear.