WHY THE CHURCH MUST EMPHASIZE CREATION, continued
If you are just joining us, start here.
Reason #3: Creation is: AWE-INSPIRING!
Do your young people just come to church to “hang out” with their friends? Do the people in the pews
look like cattle contentedly chewing their cud? How long has it been since you learned something that made your
jaw gape open and made you say, “Wow!” Does anything excite Christians any more? An
emphasis on creation can. Let’s look at some examples, but first some Scriptures:
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows very well. Psalm 139:14
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth....Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him, for He spoke and it was done; He commanded and it stood fast. Psalm 33:6-9
Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth! ....Say to God, How awesome are your works!....Come and see the works of God; He
is awesome in His doing toward the sons of men. Psalm 66:1-5
These are just a few samples of awe of God for His creative power, expressed in the Psalms.
Now let’s consider a few recent discoveries from the world of science. Get ready to say, Wow! God is awesome!.
- The Human Body.
Recently, the engineers at Sandia National Laboratories built the world’s most complex computer display. It’s a screen
10 feet high, 11 feet wide, containing 20 million pixels. The color displays are so detailed, it makes high-definition TV look like
an Etch-a-Sketch. To operate it, 64 high-speed computers operate in parallel, rendering very detailed images in several seconds. The news release then stated that it “approaches the visual acuity of the eye itself.”
Did you hear that? This technological marvel is inferior to the human eye! What takes several seconds
for this system to display is rendered instantly by your eyes, with more detail, more contrast
ratio and sensitivity, in full-motion 3D, with automatic adjustable aperture, variable focus, and autonomous self-cleaning and repair systems.
And they were exaggerating: their system does not really approach the visual acuity of the eye: theirs has 20 million pixels: each of your
little 1.3" eyeballs has six times as much – 120 million pixels! Our God is an awesome God!
- Plants.
The variety and complexity of the world’s plant life is incomprehensible. Look at this photo of
Death Valley, for instance. The seeds of this delicate sunflower can
endure the scorching heat of summer and the freezing cold of winter for years, then emerge through the rocky, concrete-like soil
under the right conditions to transform the harsh desert into a garden. But even more amazing is what goes on inside each
plant. Recently, scientists found out that plants send a molecule called messenger RNA throughout its vessels with
encoded information, so that each part of the plant knows what the other parts are doing. That’s how all parts of the
plant can know when to bloom or bear fruit, or when to respond to drought or heavy rain. In other words, the plant is sending
email throughout its stems! God gave each plant its own internet! Our God is an awesome God!
- Animals.
The variety of animals on earth is staggering. Consider the range in size from single-celled bacteria with their own outboard
motors to the whales, the largest animals that have ever lived. Did you know that spider web silk is stronger, ounce for
ounce, than steel? That it is more flexible and bulletproof than Kevlar? Did you know that migrating birds actually
fly more efficiently when fully loaded, and can travel thousands of miles over open sea to the exact spot where they were born?
Or that monarch butterflies can migrate 3000 miles, even flying over the open
sea of the Gulf of Mexico, to the exact trees where their ancestors were born? Did you know sea turtles can cross the ocean guided by the earth’s magnetic field?
We will quickly swamp all available disk space if we continue with the millions of examples of wonders in the animal kingdom.
But you get the hint....our God is an awesome God!
- Cells.
When Antony van Leeuwenhoek in 1675 found creatures a thousand times smaller than a grain of sand
swimming around in rainwater, and more tiny organisms in his mouth than men in a kingdom, he was astonished. What he didn’t know–and what we have found out only recently–would have amazed him even more. Recently, biochemists have discovered that living cells have molecular
machines and motors of exquisite design and complexity. The world’s smallest motor is a protein called
ATP synthase. Your body has trillions of them. This reversible motor, composed of many complex parts, spins at 6000 rpm,
is over 90% efficient, and has a three-phase camshaft assembly mechanism that outputs three ATP molecules per cycle. Your
body uses ATP for everything you do: every chemical reaction, muscle movement, and heartbeat needs a continuous supply of this
“energy currency,” so your body constantly pumps it out like gangbusters, even in your sleep, through these amazing
motors. On a busy day, they can crank out your body weight in ATP. Three scientists got the Nobel Prize in 1997 for
figuring this out. The ATP motors are far more efficient than anything man has ever made; it has been called the most important protein in the universe. Think of it– you’re running right now on motor power! Our God is an awesome God!
- Atoms.
The universe is composed of atoms and molecules that are so finely crafted, that if their sizes or charges or other specifications were
altered ever so slightly, stars, planets and life would become impossible. Consider water. Scientists are still trying to
figure out why water acts so weird, why ice floats, why it is such a universal solvent, why it has a skin (surface tension), why it is
acid-base neutral, and has so many other amazing properties. One thing they do know: all life depends on it, and its
properties are tailor-made for life. And it’s also a lot of fun to swim in! Our God is an awesome God.
- The Universe.
David, the shepherd on the hills of Judea at night, knew that the heavens declare the glory of God (Psalm 19). But only our
generation has known how far that awesome glory extends. In 1995, the Hubble Space Telescope focused its powerful lens on a tiny
patch of sky near the Milky Way. This patch of sky, so small you could block it with a grain of sand held at arm’s
length, had no known stars or galaxies within its boundaries. For ten days, the telescope focused on this tiny area,
collecting every faint photon of light possible. When the results came in, astronomers counted no less than 1600
galaxies in that region, and each galaxy can have several hundred billion stars. (We didn’t even know
about galaxies till 1923). Multiplying that over the
entire surface of the sky, that means there are between 50 and 100 billion galaxies, each with more or less 100 billion stars, totalling
at least 500 quintillion stars – every one of which God calls by name! (Psalm 147:4).
Truly, words fail us when we say: our God is an awesome God!
Why should the church emphasize creation? Because it has an inexhaustible treasure chest of true stories like
this to draw from, that can put people in awe of their Creator. His power, wisdom and love seen in nature is infinite!
Even with the limited scientific knowledge of their day, the Psalmists knew this. And especially today, if anyone on this
planet should be excited about the wonders of creation, should it not be the Christians who name their Creator as their
heavenly Father?
If you are a pastor, consider what fantastic illustrations from nature you can use to put some awe of God back into the
hearts of people. Remember how Jesus stooped over and picked a lily to hold up before His disciples, then told them
that “even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these” (Matthew 6:29). We now know (like
He does) what an understatement that was: the lily has its own internet and runs on molecular motors! Let creation
websites like CreationSafaris.com be a source for material on the wonders of creation.
Try this article, for example, or the Creation-Evolution Headlines
page and click on the chain links labelled “Amazing.”
Introduction to Reason #4
Our first three reasons to emphasize creation have been pretty much “fair weather and good times” reasons.
But as a pastor, you are painfully aware that much of the time you have to deal with people who are hurting. People have a multitude of problems, sometimes
of their own making, and sometimes imposed on them. When you are in problem-solving mode, or having to counsel
someone who is sick or dying, being persecuted or divorced or suffering from depression, maybe creation is the last thing
on your mind. Creation is just one of those intellectual subjects with no practical application, right? You may be very surprised by Reason #4.
Click here to continue.
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