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God our Father in Heaven

I believe in God the Father Almighty, the maker of heaven and earth.

Last week (it’s on this same blog if you missed it), I introduced the Apostles’ Creed.  This week, I break down the stunning first statement of the creed.  It is something every Christian through all ages has embraced.  It defines us.  It makes us who we are.  It makes me think of the song Creed by Rich Mullins.

I believe in God: We are saying, I am not confused about this.  There is a God - only one God, the God of the Bible.  He is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I believe God is the Father Almighty: Jesus teaches us that believers in Jesus may address God as our Father in heaven (Matthew 6:9-12).   To His children, believers in His divine Son, He is Father.  He is a good Father.  He is an Almighty Father.  What a great word is “almighty”!  God is not a clockmaker who has wound up the world and let it wind down on its own.  He is not the powerless God of modern thought who is impotent in the problems of our world, though He grieves with us.   God is making things happen.  He is all powerful.  He permits many bad things to happen for now.  He is working all things for the good of those who love him and are called according to His purpose.

I believe God made the heavens and the earth: God has revealed in His Word that everything we see is the result of planned and purposeful creative power.  He made it good.  He made it with purpose and direction.  He made it with meaning.  He made us in His image.  The doctrine of creation causes much controversy between believers and unbelievers, and among Christians with various ways of understanding the Genesis account.  This second part is sad.  Without apology or reservation, Christians have always confessed belief in God the Creator.

It’s also sad because one of the strongest arguments for the existence of God is creation (see Psalm 8, Psalm 19).  One prominent worldview has everything forming by random, chance, unguided processes over countless ages of time.  Regardless of your view of the age of the earth, the idea that unguided chance formed the world is goose dung.  Every cell in your body is immensely complex and ordered.  Read Michael Behe’s book, Darwin’s Black Box.  The Psalmist had it right; you are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14).  Those cells work together to form the major systems of your body, each one of which is immensely complex, ordered and purposeful.  And you are only one of God’s creatures, and we haven’t started to talk about how toasted (or frozen) we would be if the Earth weren’t tilted on its axis.  Purpose, order, and design cry out to us about a Designer.

We do experience random chance processes in our bodies.  There are times that apparently random mutations of cells occur in the human body.  Are these mutations a step further in human evolution, a chance for randomness to produce a better, more durable human species?  No, we call these mutations tumors, and when they spread out of control we call them cancer.  Chaos does not produce purpose and design.  Chaos produces destruction!

I acknowledge there are perplexing difficulties between the current scientific conclusions about the age of the earth and the creation account in Genesis.  These difficulties have caused some tense debates among believers about the interpretation of Genesis.  I think it is far more difficult to explain the beauty and majesty of the world out our windows apart from some sort of creator or designer.  And despite all the philosophical musings to the contrary, survival of the fittest as a belief system leaves you with a similar type of morality where tough guys rule.  Right and wrong are decided at the end of a gun barrel. Thus, atheistic communism holds the all-time record on atrocities.  Leaving World War II out of the equation, the death toll of atheism is astounding: 20 million Russians, 3 million Cambodians, countless millions of Chinese, and untold numbers of North Koreans and Cubans.

The universe is complex and ordered, from the single cell to the motions of the galaxies.  Accidents don’t produce order, they produce chaos.  With all Christians, we confess, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, the maker of heaven and earth.”

So far I’ve made an argument that a Jew, a Christian, or a Muslim could all make.  There is a God who made all things.  Next week, we make a differentiation from those other two monotheistic religions.  We believe in God the Son!

Till Then,

Don Ward

Don Ward

Senior Pastor

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