Unfortunately, so many have lost their way, or have settled for something that is so much less than a relationship with God. To paraphrase another great thinker, we have satisfied ourselves by playing in the mud with a hose in our backyard when there is a whole beach with a vast ocean just down the road to enjoy.

So this sermon series entitled, “Connecting with God” grows out of a desire to know God; to connect with God; to experience him so intimately, so completely that we can say to God, “You have made us for yourself and my heart does indeed find rest in you.”

The basis of our study will be Genesis 1-11. As you read these chapters you discover that it is a book of beginnings. It speaks of the beginning of the universe, of humanity, the Sabbath, marriage, sin, promise, sacrifice, salvation, family, civilization, government and nations. It is a book of beginnings.

So it is a good place for us to start as we think about connecting with God for here we are introduced to how it all began. How and why our hearts are restless until they find rest in God.

We’ll be examining the whole 11 chapters in the months to come but as we think this morning about Connecting with the God who is, our text is very short, the first four words of Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God.”

Before Christmas I met with an old friend who has a restless heart. I got to know him in my previous community. He didn’t come to our church. His daughter came out to our puppet team and became a committed Christian, my friendship began through her. I’ve been praying for him for a number of years now, praying that he would know the reality of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. His son recently became a Christian – it seems that everyone around him is becoming a Christian except him! It will happen in God’s time, but at this dinner he was quite frank with me and he said this. “Tom, my biggest question is not about the person of Jesus Christ, it is not about heaven or hell, my biggest question is more basic than all that. My biggest question is, Does God exist at all? I’m not convinced that He is there. How can I be sure that there is a God?"

It is a good question. It is a life-transforming question. If there is no God then we can live as we please - we do not need to consider His desires, we truly are the centre of the universe and need not worry about a greater power. But if there is a God who can be known then worship, devotion, service, commitment are due Him.

If there is a God, we have an answer to our heart's restlessness and we must do all we can to get connected with Him.

Is there a God? I believe there is and I know that many of you here today believe that too. This sermon is not for you, except to reaffirm your faith and to equip you to give a response to those who ask you the same question. This sermon is for those who are asking that question, “Is there a God?”

I believe there is. How do I know? I know in my MIND that God exists because of creation. The psalmist writes, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.” (Psalm 19:1). And it’s true. I know there are some, but I am not one of them, who can sit under the beauty of a star lit sky, or watch the wonder of an early morning sunrise and say, “There is no God”. I am not one of those.

I grew up in the garden. My mom would ask me, “Were you brought up in a barn?” I could say, “No, I was brought up just outside the barn in the garden.” For it was there that I first caught a glimpse of God – in the delicate beauty of a rose, in the sweetness of a summer strawberry, in the miracle of a seed placed in the dirt springing to life and eventually bearing zucchinis the size of my arm.

Such beauty and wonder speak to me of the one who is beautiful and wonderful, a creator who is reflected in his creation.

I know in my mind that there is a God because of the beauty of creation. But also there is the order of creation. Stephen Hawking, a great mind and scientist of our age has developed a theory called the Quantum theory that tells us that events do not have causes at the quantum level. He has essentially found a formula that has done away with God as the first cause of creation. He is not needed according to Stephen Hawking, it all started on its own, it’s mathematically verifiable. Now my mind is no match for Stephen Hawking (my son will tell you that!) but I do have a question and that is, if the Quantum theory is discovered through a series of complex mathematical equations, if it discovered through dependence on certain natural laws, through order then where does this order come from? Who set these mathematical laws in place? As David Wilkinson writes, “To give a mathematical equation for the beginning of the universe implicitly assumes that the mathematical laws are transcendent.”¹

Where do these laws come from? I would suggest that they come from God.

But not only the beauty of creation, and the order of creation but also the design of creation tells me of the existence of God. Do you ever stop to think how perfectly balanced our world is?

If you consider that our sun is losing weight by radiation at a rate of 4,200,000 tons a second – has it occurred to you that that is the perfect rate to sustain life? If the sun got a little older a little longer our whole planet would be one giant ice cube. Or if it got a little warmer for a little longer the whole planet would become a desert. Life as we know it can exist with a very narrow margin of temperature, it is perfectly balanced.

Does it happen by chance? My mind says no way. There must be a superior intelligence who designed all this.

Or consider water. Besides its ability to make that miracle drink called coffee, it is the perfect substance to cushion the earth from the heat of the sun and the freezing blast of winter. It dissolves many substances, it makes dry substances cohere and become flexible. In our bloodstream it holds in solution at least 64 different substances, and consider, it reaches it greatest density when cooled, not at freezing point but at 4 degrees centigrade. As a result lakes and ponds freeze from the top and not from the bottom up. This gives fish life a chance to survive hard winters.

I can give example after example of the perfect design of creation. Some would say its all a coincidence and I might agree if… IF, there weren’t so many – there are so many elements of our universe, of our world that are held in perfect balance for it all to be considered a coincidence.

Is there a God? I say, “Yes”. I know there is a God because my mind says it’s only logical.

Now, we need to be clear that Christianity is a logical, intellectual religion. We do not need to check our brains at the door when we become Christians. No, we have a faith that stands up to intellectual scrutiny, indeed even invites it. Jesus said you shall love the Lord you God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your MIND.” (Matthew 22:37) Our faith is supernatural but never irrational.

But having said that, we need to realize that we cannot prove God scientifically. Just as we cannot prove scientifically that Napoleon existed, so we cannot prove God. In order for something to be proved scientifically it must be repeatable. So we cannot prove God in this way. But we must realize that there are truths that are real even if they can’t be weighted, or measured or touched. As Paul Little points out, no one has ever seen 3 feet of love or 2 pounds of justice but we would be foolish to deny their reality.²

So I know there is a God because my MIND says so. But reason can only take us so far in our search for God.

“Someone has said that the world is a kind of spiritual kindergarten where millions of bewildered infants are trying to spell G O D with the wrong blocks. God cannot be spelled in blocks of logic, because God is not a theorem to be worked out mathematically. God cannot be spelled in blocks of science, because God is not an object to be weighed and measured. God is a Person to be known.” ³

There is then, also this – we know God exists because he has revealed Himself to us. This ultimately is the only reason that we know God exists. For when you think about it, you have to say that any God who created such a vast complex, wonderful universe must be far greater than the universe he has created. If that is the case then the question is – How can we ever know such a majestic, awesome God?

It was Herbert Spencer who said that it is impossible for the finite to penetrate the infinite. His observation is right on. But his conclusion is all wrong. Herbert Spencer failed to take into account another possibility – that is, while the finite cannot penetrate the infinite, what if the infinite penetrated the finite? That is exactly what God has done.⁴

God can be seen in the beauty, in the order, in the design of creation but supremely we know God through His Son Jesus Christ. This is what the writer to the Hebrews states,

“In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.” (Hebrews 1:1,2). And again in John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God” and we discover as we read that first chapter that John is speaking of Jesus Christ as being the Word and he concludes that section by saying, “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.”

The wonder of it all is that we know God exists – and more we can know His character, His personality - because He became one of us in the person of Jesus Christ.

John came to the conclusion that when he looked at Jesus Christ he was looking into the eyes of the creator God Himself. And then as you read through Scripture you discover that all the major themes of creation are focused in this one man Jesus.

He is the creator of the universe – Hebrews 1:2 states that it was through Jesus Christ that the universe was made. Paul in writing to the Colossians makes the same statement, “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible” (Colossians 1:16)

Again David Wilkinson states, “God the Father and God the Son are seen to be together in creation just as the eyes and hands of a craftsman are together in making an object.”⁵

Not only is Jesus Christ seen as the sole creator he is seen as the one who gives order and balance to all of creation. Again in Colossians we read that “Christ is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” (Col. 1:17)

This is the great news of Christianity – it is that not only is there a God but He can be known through Jesus Christ.

Is there a God? My mind says yes. I see Him in creation, I see Him in the person of Jesus Christ.

Finally this, Is there a God? My heart says yes.

There are certain things in this world can only be discovered by committing yourself to it. This is what one wise man has said, “We must dare in order to know”.

It is true that the greatest discoveries of God and His existence and His character are not made in the lecture and study halls of the university but they are made instead in the risk of believing, in daring to commit your heart, your life to God. The only way to know God exists and to experience all His fullness is to stop being a spectator and start being a participant.

In the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indiana must go through a series of 3 trials, real life riddles to get to the Holy Grail. The last challenge he faces is a great chasm with no apparent bridge to get to the other side. If he steps off the ledge it appears he will fall to his death. But the book he holds in his hand shows him that this is the way, this is the only way to get across and get that cup of life. He must take a step of faith. And he does, he steps out, fully expecting to plummet to certain death, but instead his foot falls on a bridge – invisible to the naked eye – until he took the step of faith.

Faith in God is not blind faith. I have tried to show this morning that there is evidence enough for those who have eyes to see. But there comes a time when we must stop speculating, stop reflecting and start trusting. There comes a time when we must trust ourselves to the God who is, to the God who has revealed Himself to us in Creation, and in the incarnation in the person of Jesus Christ. And Scripture says that the time is now.

Don’t wait. Don’t wait to give yourself to God, don’t wait until you have God all figured out – give yourself to Him today. Say to Him "God I have see You in creation, I see You in the person of Jesus Christ and I give myself to You today. You are my Lord and my God," and then you too will discover like Augustine so long ago, “O God, my heart is restless until it finds rest in you.”

Copyright MBC and Tom Cullen - January 2004
 

1. David Wilkinson, God, The Big Bang and Stephen Hawking, Monarch Publications, Great Britain, 1993, p. 97

2. Paul Little, Know Why You Believe, InterVarsity Press Downers Grove Illinois, 1968, p. 8

3. Leonard Griffith, Barriers to Christian Belief. Hodder and Stoughton, England, 1961, p. 3

4. Paul Little, ibid, p. 13

5. David Wilkinson, ibid, p. 138