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Genesis 1:1-2:3, Matthew 28:16-20 The Origin of the Species In the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Dear friends in Christ: Let me say at the outset that I firmly
believe in evolution. There: it’s out in the open. There’s no point in me trying to deny it or deceive
anyone about it. What? Does it surprise you? Do you think that by saying that I believe in
evolution that I am somehow denying the creation account we heard again as this
morning’s Old Testament reading? By no
means; it’s precisely because I believe the Bible’s account of creation that I
believe in evolution because that is very clearly what it teaches. But I’d better explain. First, when I say I believe in evolution I
don’t mean that popular pseudo-scientific theory proposed by Charles Darwin
that says life began spontaneously in the warm ooze on the edges of some
primordial ocean when the correct combination of chemicals just happened to
come together in precisely the right way, and that higher life forms then slowly
evolved from simpler ones over vast ages of time by the blind processes of
random mutation and natural selection – that is, the survival of the fittest. Nor do I mean the theologically dishonest
adaptation of that theory called “theistic evolution”, which says pretty much
the same thing, except that it throws “God” into the mix and suggests that he
prodded and poked the process along here and there as
required over hundreds of millions of years to make it come out the way it did. Neither of those is even close to what mean
when I say I believe in evolution. No, what I mean instead is that the
Lord God who created the heavens and earth and everything in them didn’t start
with a finished product. He could have,
you know. He could have brought
everything into existence just the way it is right now, to include everything
we think of as history and all the memories you have of your own life—he could
have done that in an instant less than a second ago, and you would never know
the difference. He could have; but he
didn’t. How do we know for sure – especially
since I just said we’d never know the difference? Easy:
he said so. We have his Word on
it that tells us when he did it and how. And in his Word he tells us that he
did the original creation in six days.
But have you ever wondered about that?
Why he took six days to do what he could have done in no time at
all? I mean, c’mon, it’s not like he
needed time to work it all out, or that it was too much for him to handle all
at once. But for some reason he
stretched it out – deliberately slowed himself down so
that he didn’t do it all at once like he could have. Why do you suppose he did that? One answer might be that if he had
done it all at once and still wanted to go with a seven day week he’d be
setting a pretty poor precedent for us.
Why, then we’d have just one day on
which we worked for a tiny bit of time and then the rest of that day and the
next six days would be off. As it is,
only pastors keep such a schedule; but imagine how it would be if everybody did. Nothing would ever get done. Okay, that was supposed to be a
joke; but a lot more seriously, it’s important to understand that there’s more
going on in the story of creation than just the Lord God making
everything. If that’s all there were to
it, then he could have done it all at once in a flash. But you see, the Lord is not just creating,
he’s also relating to and interacting with what he has made. There’s a conversation going on. Every time the Lord says something, it tells
us something about him: who he is, how powerful he is, how ordered and
wonderful are his thoughts, and so on.
So he reveals himself as he speaks.
And as he speaks to creation it responds to his voice. With every word of God the creation is
improved. And this is what I mean when I say I believe
in evolution. The initial creation
starts with the earth dark, formless, chaotic, and empty. It’s a lifeless, water-covered mess. It seems that no good can ever come of it. Ah, but that changes as God
draws near and lavishes his unique attention and individual focus on this
favored planet we call home. We read
that the Spirit of God hovered above the face of the deep. This is what we theologians call an immanent
presence of God. Yes, God is everywhere
in creation in a transcendent sort of way; but he doesn’t manifest his presence
everywhere in the same way. In certain
places he makes his gracious presence
known. This is what’s going on as he
begins to create. He locates himself
above the water as if to say, “Here I am.
Here’s where you find me. I am
with you and want you to know that I’m this
close.” And that’s important because his
intent is to have a close, personal relationship with his creation and
specifically with mankind whom he will create in his own image as the highest
and brightest crown of all that he makes. Okay, so now with the Holy Spirit in place
above the waters, God the Father and Creator begins to speak. And of course if it’s God who is speaking,
naturally what he speaks is the Word of God – which as we know from I hope you’re still with me because it gets
better. The first thing God says is,
“Let there be light”, and boom! The
light comes on. But this is a light that
precedes by three days the creation of the sun, moon, and stars, which are the
sources of natural light. So the
question is: where is the light coming
from? And the answer is from God
himself. Or say it another way, this is
a divine light by which God who is by nature an invisible spirit makes himself
visible and by which he makes it possible for us to see him and everything
else. Now, couple that with the fact the
light appears when God speaks the Word, and understanding that the Word is God
the Son, if you’ll forgive the pun, it sheds a lot of light on what Jesus means
when he says, “I am the light of the world.”
It’s in Jesus Christ that God reveals himself and his glory becomes
visible to us. All right, then the evolution of God’s creation
continues with the separation of light and darkness into day and night – which
itself is a theologically loaded concept; but suffice it to say for now that
what’s being established is a way to keep track of time. Sure, the grand clock gets more elaborate
later when he adds the sun and moon to track months and seasons and what not;
but for the time being, he’s started the clock ticking. And what follows are five more days of
creative effort as by his Word the Lord God continues to shape and improve his
evolving handiwork – and at the same time the creation interacts with him by
responding to his voice. So the
atmosphere and seas are created. The dry
land appears. Plants and then the
animals are formed. And
finally man and woman in the image of God. But what I’d have you see is that the
creation is entirely passive throughout the whole process. It doesn’t evolve on its own; it only changes
for the better when it hears and responds to him. And so the whole thing is rather like an
increasingly complicated dance with the Lord God leading and his creation – the
beautiful object of his attention – answering his lead. It (or if you’ll allow me, she) steps
in time with him to the rhythm of the divine music, both rejoicing in each
other. “Thus the heaven and earth were
finished, and all the host of them. And
on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the
seventh day from all his labor.” And it was very good. But, as you know, it didn’t stay good. The man and the woman created in God’s image who were given dominion over all the things God had made
decided to try their hand at evolving on their own. And not only did they try to do it without
God’s Word; they did it in direct defiance of what God had said. The result was catastrophic not just for
them; but also for the entire creation that plunged with them into spiritual darkness
and became subject to the curse of death and decay. By taking the initiative in their evolution,
they caused the death of their own and every other species. But God resolved to set things right
again. He promised our erring first
parents redemption and recreation of all that he had made. He promised them a new creation even better
and more evolved than the first. And in
the account of the initial creation we are given the keys to how the Lord
operates, as well as an outline of his work of recreation. What do I mean? Well, first that he does all the work. The creation itself is passive. It (we)
cannot act for our own benefit. We only
make things worse. To move forward, we
must be acted upon by God. Second, that
God’s work is always done by his Word.
He speaks and it happens. And, as
I said, the Word is God the Son. So all of God’s work is done by and through the Son. Third, that he doesn’t do all the work at
once in an instant; rather he takes his time so that there is an evolution of
improvement as his creation responds to his Word. By this process he’s doing more than
creating; he’s also building an interactive relationship between Creator and
creature. And finally, it all begins
when God draws near with his Spirit and makes his gracious presence known. So it is that the Lord sent his Word, his
Spirit, and his gracious presence to Noah, to the Patriarchs, and to the
prophets to prepare the way for the complete revelation of God that happened
when the Word became flesh and made his dwelling with us in the person of Jesus
Christ. The Light of the World came into
the world to swallow up the darkness of human sin in himself. On the cross he suffered and died to pay the
penalty of the curse that had fallen on all creation. And then, when all his labor was complete—when
he given everything he had: his body, blood, and Spirit, on the seventh day God
rested in the tomb. And then he reset the clock, so to
speak. He stepped out of the tomb on the
first day of a new order of creation – because it was impossible for death to
hold the Author of life. He came forth
the first fruit of the new creation, the first of an entirely new species of
man. Remember the old species is dead. And that’s what we are we come into this old,
cursed world: dead in sin and trespass.
In a spiritual sense we are dark, formless, chaotic, and empty. It looks as if no good can ever come of
us. But God in his grace draws near and
introduces himself. He positions his
Spirit over the water and we hear his voice, “I baptize you in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”—and boom! The light comes on. Trust and personal knowledge of Christ
begins. And the regenerating benefit of
his suffering and death for sin is applied through the water and the Word and
we rise to new life with him as part of the new creation. But we’re not done yet—not by a long shot. “Baptize and teach” he told his apostles.
That’s how he told them to make disciples – a word that means “trainees”
or “students”. It’s a word that implies we’re
still under construction, still evolving as we continue to hear, respond to, and
be shaped by his Word. So, like I said, I believe in evolution – the
kind driven by God’s gracious and powerful Word. Even now we are being improved as God
continues to speak in order to conform us again to his
own image. What we will fully become has
not yet been revealed. But one thing is
sure: when God is all done with his
work, he will look upon everything he has made, and behold, it will be very
good. In the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Soli Deo Gloria! |
