Human beings are creative.
One of the most distinguishing characteristics of human beings is our ability to create things and be creative. Think for a moment about the Geico caveman and what life must have been like six thousand years ago! Someone invented shoes and shoe laces. Someone invented a knife to cut his out-of-control hair. Think of the millions of acts of human creativity that have taken place throughout history!
Last week, our garage door opener stopped working. As I resigned myself to hiring someone replace it, Lara logged on to the internet and watched videos on YouTube about how to replace them. She read about how all these people replaced their garage door openers with no trouble. "Look, this man did it in two hours with the help of his one year old baby girl. Jon, if a 1 year old can do it? Come on, let's get to Lowes before they close."
Funny how such conversations unfold. Ladies, if it's really so easy... but I digress! I'm in a lot of trouble now! I really do enjoy mechanical challenges. As I removed the old opener, the cause of failure was obvious. The heat from the light bulbs had melted the case and the circuit board inside the opener. But the new unit I bought has been completely redesigned to prevent failure! The newer unit is more powerful, it runs in whisper quiet mode, has a battery backup, and will turn a light on in our house when we pull up! The childlike wonder of it all! I just sit in my garage now, opening and closing the door. I don't even watch television anymore.
But just think of how creative we are! Someone invented garage door openers! And thousands of people invented all the individual components within a garage door opener-- the electronics, the electric motor, the belt drive, the lightbulbs, the radio signal, and the motion sensors. It's crazy!
God has endowed us with the capacity to create.
God has endowed us with the capacity to create! We've been created in the image of our creator in order to create and be creative. See Genesis 1:1! Male and female alike, we are all creative. We are creative in the way we invent things and build things, the way we decorate our homes, dress, do our hair, and prepare food. There is nothing like sitting back and admiring our very own creation!
Here is what Genesis 1:31-2:1 (NIV) says. "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning-- the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array."
Think about the satisfaction God must have felt when creating light and darkness, the sun and moon and stars, the sky and the sea and dry land, the vast array of seed-bearing plants, the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the creatures that move along the ground, and the animals. Now think about how God must have felt when creating human beings in his own image-- human beings with the capacity to invent things and express limitless creativity. Look at us!
I wonder what impresses you? A while back, Lara and I went to a mall in St. Louis, and I stepped into an Apple store. The place was swarming with people enamored by the latest iPhone and iPad and Mac-Air. But what is more enamoring? Is it the capabilities of an iPhone, or is it the capability of the creature who invented the iPhone? And what is even more enamoring than the human beings who invented the iPhone? Is it not the one who created human beings to be creative in the first place?
The marvel of technology ought to cause us to worship our creator who endowed us with the capacity to be creative! When God saw all that he made, he saw that it was very good indeed. Created things ought to always lead us to worship our creator!
On the seventh day, God rested.
Genesis 2:2 (NIV) says, "By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work."
This is a remarkable verse. On the sixth day, God had finished the work he had been doing. I don't know about you, but when I'm doing woodworking, or woodburning, or painting a picture, or designing a website, or working in the yard, nothing ever feels finished. There is always some blemish, or imperfection, or change, or revision, or modification. But for God, his creation was perfect. It was finished! There was no need to go on endlessly creating! God was satisfied with what was made. He was finished!
And notice that when God rests on the seventh day, he doesn't rest because of exhaustion. Quite the contrary! Isaiah 40:28 (NIV) says, "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom."
No, our text is quite clear. God doesn't rest because of creating. God rests from his work of creating. The creation of mankind was God's final brushstroke, his masterpiece! And we haven't even begun to understand the complexities of the human mind that creates, let alone the mind of God who creates man!
We should worship our creator who endowed us with the ability to create.
Again, the marvel of human creativity ought to cause us to worship our creator who endowed us with such capacity in first place. But here is what happens. Romans 1:25 (NIV) describes how our focus shifts from our creator to created things. "They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-- who is forever praised. Amen."
Creation ought to inspire praise! It ought to inspire worship and adoration! But more often than not, it distracts us from praise and worship. So what do we do about it? How can we recapture the heart of worship? How can we turn our hearts back to our creator?
God blessed the seventh day and made it holy.
On the seventh day God, rests from creating. Notice what Genesis 2:3 (NIV) says. "And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done." Usually the Bible talks about God blessing people. Nowhere but here does the Bible talk about God blessing a thing, a particular day. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy. And notice why he blessed and made it holy. Because on the seventh day, God rested, "from all the work of creating that he had done."
When you read Genesis, God's seventh day is man's first day. Man was created on the day six. Therefore, day seven was man's first day! Our first day is made possible because of all God had finished during day one through day six! So here is what the Bible teaches about what we should do on day seven.
How are we to observe the seventh day?
Exodus 20:8-11 (NIV) says, "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."
Now think about why this is important! We are prone to getting engrossed in the world! We get immersed in our television, our iPhones, our video games, our building and constructing, our homemaking and decorating, our schoolwork and sports, and in our coming and going. We are prone to become enamored by the things of this world, all the while losing connection with our creator who is to be forever praised!
One day in seven, we're to cease our activity and completely stop everything! We're to build it into our schedules. We're to turn our hearts toward our creator and marvel at the one who gave us the capacity to work and play, create and invent, come and go, and live and breathe. One day in seven, we are to worship our creator who is forever praised!
Exodus 31:12-17 (NIV) causes us to reflect on the severity of this. "Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Say to the Israelites, 'You must observe my Sabbaths.' This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy. Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it must be put to death; whoever does any work on that day must be cut off from his people. For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death. The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he abstained from work and rested.' "
The danger is that lose ourselves in our work and in our play. I'll say this differently. The likelihood, the probability, is that we will lose ourselves in our work and in our play. And when that happens, we will quickly forget God. This is what Romans 1:25 is talking about. "...(they) worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-- who is forever praised. Amen."
The practice of observing the Sabbath is a proclamation of belief in the creator.
Isn't it amazing how quickly people who don't worship even one day in seven quickly fall away from the Lord? Isn't it amazing how children who don't worship one day in seven grow up abandoning their Christian faith and not knowing God? Isn't it amazing how the workaholic or the person who sleeps late lose the advantage of Christian fellowship? Isn't it amazing how all of these things erode our relationship with God?
In Exodus 31:17 God tells the Israelites that their practice of observing the Sabbath is a proclamation of their belief in a creator! The scientist who honors the Sabbath proclaims his gratitude to God for his or her intellect. The artist who honors the Sabbath proclaims gratitude to God for his or her gift. There are some true artists in our worship teams! The athlete who honors the Sabbath proclaims gratitude for the strength that has been given to him by God. But those who carry on without a Sabbath, proclaim nothing. For those who deny God one day in seven, it's as if God is dead and many live their lives accordingly.
Some might conclude that on the seventh day, God was physically worn out from his work and collapsed on his heavenly couch somewhere in a distant heavenly dwelling. But that is not what these verses teach. Everything God has created is for his enjoyment, and fellowship, and intimacy. God's rest isn't passive or disengaged. God's rest is active and intimate! On the seventh day, God enters into his creation and actively blesses man. God walks in the garden with man. See Genesis 3:8. He pursues relationship with man, marking out the boundaries for a holy relationship.
What better way to honor God than to turn one day in seven away from created things in order to worship our creator who is forever praised!
Throughout the scriptures, we are encouraged to enter into God's Sabbath rest and receive the blessings of God for which we were created. This means disengaging from our creative work and engaging our creator in worship, word, and praise. This means resting from our work in the world and passionately seeking renewal and fellowship with God. Our most important work is not what we do with our hands. It's engaging the one for whom we were created.
During the Sabbath, we are to do many activities that honor God.
We are to use creativity to worship God, use our minds to know God better, use our strength to serve God, and use our hearts to love God and love people who are in need. We should also use our bodies to honor God. If we do these things, God promises to bless us.
Isaiah 58:13-14 (NIV) tells of God's blessing on those who observe the Sabbath. " 'If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD's holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.' The mouth of the LORD has spoken."