Sermon: Creation

Creation
RUMC 4 February 2018 – Youth Sunday
Written by the 2018 RUMC Confirmation Class

One of the lessons in Confirmation class is to learn the different parts that comprise of a worship service. The Confirmation class put together this worship service and picked the theme.  They decided to base our Sermon today on Creation, which is not as easy as you might think.

The meaning of Creation is the action or process of bringing something into existence. So the question arose-why?  Why did God create the earth?  Why did God create us, and for what purpose?

Genesis 9: 3 says, “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.”

This scripture verse tells us God made the Earth for us. When God created the Earth and all that it is, God gave us a planet that is self-sustaining.  When God created nature, it was created so what is taken from the Earth, it gives back to the Earth; when something dies, it gives new life to another.  The Earth is a circle of life that symbolizes the universe being sacred and divine.  Think about how God created it: on the first day – light, dark (day and night); the second day – the sky and water separated; the third day – earth, seas, and vegetation; the fourth day – stars, moon, sun; the fifth day – flying animals and sea life; the sixth day- land animals and humans.  As God created each day he took into account each creature that would inhabit the earth and how it would survive.  Earth was made as an ecosystem, which is interdependent on each other.  Each species needs one another in order to survive.

In Genesis 1:28 people were blessed and told to multiply and to govern the earth. In Psalm 65:9 our job is to care for the land and water.  God made a perfect Earth with every essential we need to survive: food, water, shelter.  Everything that God has created is a gift to us:  every morning we hear the birds singing a greeting to start our day; the animals-dogs, cats, horses, donkeys, etc.- have been provided for us; we are able to train them so they work along us, for us, and provide companionship.  Every creature is created for us, for our enjoyment, for its beauty, and for food; we are grateful for all of them…maybe an exception would be mosquitoes.

But why and for what purpose were people created? Jeremiah 31:3 “I have loved you with an everlasting love.”  God’s love endures forever; that which has no beginning and will have no end.  We were created because of God’s everlasting love for us.

In Isaiah 43:7, 1 Corinthians 10:31, and Psalm 86:12, we are instructed to serve Him, exalt Him and glorify Him. Our love, faith, trust, and desire to know Him and obey Him is our purpose.

But how do we glorify God? Glorifying God is not just being born, living, and then dying.  It is through our spiritual gifts or our calling.  Deep inside we have a strong urge toward a particular way of life; that feeling you get is what God has giving us.  Through these gifts what we say, how we act, and how we think will glorify God.  A spiritual gift or calling is God-given, and through these gifts God gives us areas that we are especially very good at or great at.  The purpose of these gifts are given by God “for the common good” “to serve each other;” how we use them glorifies God.

When you read 1 Corinthians 12:27 and Romans 12:4-8, to summarize these scriptures, they tell us we are individuals in one body, each of us given different gifts. Maybe you feel called to be a farmer, entertainer, minister, scientist, doctor, etc.  Whatever you feel the strong desire to do, or how you do it, makes you unique, but together we make up the people of the world.  Like the Earth, people are interdependent of each other.  People, so diverse but together, make all of human kind.  Our gifts point us to the path God wants us to take in our lives.  When we feel good about what we have accomplished, it is a message God has sent us to appreciate our gifts, our life, and to live it to the fullest.

We are told to dream and reach for the stars, our goals being whatever we can imagine. But our gifts, the things that we are best at, God has chosen for us.  We are given this gift or gifts, whatever God has chosen for us, without it being earned!  Our gifts are given to us only through God’s grace.

We are told in 1 Peter 4:10, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”

Through the words of the Bible, God has told us: as you live your life, spread and choose kindness; this is the right direction, the path Jesus has shown us, and the one that brings glory to God.

Finding our gifts or calling might not be an easy thing for some to do. To find it, try paying attention: are you pulled a certain way towards doing something?  Listen to what others say you are good at and notice the things that energize you and seem to come naturally.

Still having a hard time finding your calling or your gift? Well, you are in luck because we live in a world of technology.  Finding your spiritual gift or calling is as easy as going to On-Line Spiritual Gifts Test at WWW.KODACHROME.ORG/SPIRITGIFT or WWW.KODACHROME.ORG/SPIRITGIFTYOUTH.  Answer the 140 questions they have, and with their automatic analysis system, it will analyze your spiritual gift.  I kid you not!!

Give it a try, you might find it interesting to see what you feel your gift is and what their analysis says it is. But remember life isn’t only about finding your spiritual gift or calling.  When you know what your gift is, it is up to you to unwrap it and make the decision on how you will use it!

We would like to summarize our Sermon by combining some of our thoughts and those of Kashif Zuberi:

• We were created by God from his everlasting love of us. Our purpose is to glorify God. How we do that is through what we say, how we think, and how we act. We need to do and speak good things and to help others, using our God-given spiritual gifts or what we feel we are called to do in life.
• Creation in the true sense (meaning bringing something into existence) is unique to God alone. Although people take credit for the things that they create, what they do is not true creation. People merely control or influence what already exists, what has already been created by God. A sculptor carves, welds, and molds their works in two or three dimensions from elements of earth. A carpenter makes something from wood, which domes from trees, which grow on earth. Nails, screws, cars, bridges, etc. are made from metal, elements that come from earth, which is created by God. An Artist produces or designs a painting or drawing based on what they have seen. , and believe it or not, this includes abstract art. Abstract art is defined as art that seeks to break away from traditional representation of physical objects, and physical objects are made by elements of earth- good to know right? Things that people invented that make our lives better—vaccines, phones, x-rays, planes, computers, etc.—all of the products that can be created or designed by an inventor can only exist by using elements of earth.

In fact, all creations or inventions people have made can be traced back to basic elements which people cannot make.

Only God alone creates from nothing.

Amen!