Beyond Sunday
Beyond Sunday is a podcast where we dive into what our Church is up to, what's happening in society, go deeper into topics from Sunday mornings, and hear leadership talks from Pastor Greg Griffith. This is a podcast of King of Kings Church in Omaha, NE. Learn more at kingofkings.org.
Beyond Sunday
S1Ep1 - In the Beginning — Creation & the God Who Speaks
Season 1 of Coffee Break Theology begins with Pastor Greg Griffith and Marcus Nathan, who brew up big truths in small sips. This episode explores what the LCMS teaches about Creation and why it matters for faith and identity.
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Speaker 2:Welcome to Coffee Break Theology, where deep truths meet hot brews. I'm Greg, I'm Marcus and today we're diving into one of the biggest questions ever what does it mean that God created?
Speaker 3:everything. You know. I grew up in Colorado so I got a front seat to the Rocky Mountains. I call that the sneak peek into God's wonderful creation. I don't live there anymore, obviously, but when I take my family go back to see family, we can't wait. We're on the plains, it's really Brown, it's sort of hilly, but not really. But I can't wait for that glimpse of the mountains. They're purple mountains, majesty, and getting a chance to drive through the mountains and get back there to show my kids God's power, god's majesty through his creation, to show my kids God's power, god's majesty through his creation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, cool, yeah, it's pretty awesome, those mountains, majesty right, and then you got the contrast of the Rockies, of course, the Colorado Rockies that are not anything but majesty.
Speaker 2:Anyways, we only have 10 minutes so I shouldn't digress that much. So here's a question that always comes up how did everything get here? And I think it's super important not to get lost in the eternal like what ifs, like what if this, what if this? And we end up crossing over all these hypothetical bridges and this is the minor leagues. Like let's stay in the major leagues. What does scripture teach about the presence of God through creation?
Speaker 3:And I think the best place to start is the very first verse Amen. Genesis 1.1 says in the beginning, god created the heavens and the earth. That's not poetry, it's not fake, that's a historical claim.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's what I love about our Lutheran Church Missouri Synod theology is we really do believe that God created everything in six natural days. Not a symbolic of like kind of we take the Hebrew word yom, which means a literal 24 hour day, six natural days, not mythical, factual events, and the scriptures are clear Matter of fact. We say it this way Creation was ex nihilo, out of nothing, and this is so awesome, but God just spoke and it happened in a six lateral days. Like we don't have that ability, no other created things have that ability I try to go out to my garage and be like let there be a Corvette and it just no, it's still my Ford Bronco, which is nice.
Speaker 2:I'm not. I'm not knocking my Ford, but I would love a Corvette. Adam and Eve, they're real historical people and, again, we don't want to get into, like the what ifs. Like, did they have belly buttons, did they not? I have no idea. I think they did, do you think they did? And I'd say it doesn't matter, it'd be kind of cool to see them without one, but I don't know. And then also, it's foundational though, because when we really look at that, it helps us understand sin, it helps us understand we need a savior and it helps us understand the authority of scripture, and that's why I do believe the literal part of that really does matter, right?
Speaker 3:And I'm going to say a word here, greg, yeah, I think I made it up, but it's a real word Hysterosity, that's a real word.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'll fact check that with Peter Bay.
Speaker 3:He's a wordsmith, that's a bad source, but I think you should do it. Anyway, the historicalness of the Bible, though that's especially in the creation event, it's foundational to our faith, understanding who God is, what he said, what he did and then who we are. Because of all that, there's a book out there called the Reliability of the New Testament Scriptures. It's written by FF Bruce and in there he says Christianity as a way of life depends on the acceptance of Christianity as good news, a good report. So like a news reporter reports the news, they're reporting actual events. So the gospel is a good report. God entered into history and what the Bible says actually happened. So he says, this historical once and for allness of Christianity makes the reliability of the writings a question of first rate importance. So theologically or historically, it does matter if the Bible is true, if it's reliable or not, if the creation story is real or not, and that's so good?
Speaker 2:because I think one thing Christians get, especially when we talk about this historicity and we talk about the literalness of this, is that we're anti-science and we're actually anything but that. Scriptures stand as the ultimate authority, speak clearly about creation and and science is a created thing, and so science is part of that. We actually affirm science. Genesis 1 and 2 are affirmations of science. And then Exodus continues and says for in six days, the Lord made heaven and earth. And it's six days, john 1 and 3. Jesus is the word through all things were made. Through him he was in the beginning, and so that really matters. And and as we think about that, creation matters, right, um, it matters because we're created and he's a creator.
Speaker 2:And, uh, you know, I just had a interesting conversation with my nephew. We were on a golf course and and we were talking about faith and belief in God. And we were talking about faith and belief in God and he asked that question of, well, who created God? And I said to him I said Dino, god is not created, he's the creator, and so he's just always been, always is, and this is what even Yahweh in the Hebrew, yahweh means I am who I am. Literally, it actually is. I is who I is.
Speaker 3:And so it's just always being right. Yeah, and this creation, it shows us our identity. Yeah, if we're created by God, we're not random, we're not afterthoughts, we're not just dust out of the earth that just appeared out of nothing. He designed us with a purpose. So if we're designed with a purpose, genesis 2.7 shows us this. Then the Lord, god, formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. The man became a living creature. So we're the crown of creation. We are created differently than the rest of creation.
Speaker 3:If you look at the Genesis story, the first five days of creation, god said let there be light. God said this. God said let there be animals, let there be birds of the air, creatures of the sea. On day six, when he created man, he got down on his hands and knees. Created man, he got down on his hands and knees, got the dust of the earth in his hands, formed man and then breathed life into his nostrils. In Genesis 1.26, he continues with this theme. Then God said let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air and over the livestock, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. This is part of our purpose. We were created differently.
Speaker 2:Man, I that that is. That is so deep when you really think about it, like and I don't know that I actually spend a ton of time thinking about it and I need I need to go more into that that that God breathed into us, and that is a different right. We weren't formed or we weren't spoken into existence. We were breathed into existence with the very breath of God Holy smokes, I mean. That's one of those mind-blowing things when you really think about it, and it reminds us how powerful God is, orderly, and this is something I think is important. Like creation shows us too that God's a God of order. So when we're in the midst of chaos and mess, that's not from God. God doesn't keep us in chaos or mess, he's a God of order. And then he's a God of good. Matter of fact, he called creation very good, including all of humanity, right?
Speaker 3:And being the crown of creation. It reminds us that we're stewards, we're not owners. We might be the crowns, but we're not the owners. So part of our mission, our purpose that God gives us is shaping how we treat people, the planet, even our own bodies. They're not our own. We have a plan and he's got a plan for us and a mission for us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and when we look at that and remember that every person we encounter is a very image of God and a creation of God and very good, it just changes how we treat one another. And so, summing this up right like God made you, God made me on purpose with order for a purpose, and that's not just theology, it's hope.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I like that. And the LCMS teaches creation is the beginning of the gospel story. If Genesis 1 is not true, the cross loses its foundation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love what Luther said. He said when Moses writes that God created heaven and earth, like we confess that it was done just as Moses wrote it.
Speaker 3:I like it. Well, that's it for this episode. Thanks for joining us on Coffee Break Theology. You like what you heard? Subscribe, send it to a friend. You can have a good Genesis conversation with them as well.
Speaker 2:Man. So our next episode is going to be about sin, intentional and unintentional. You're not going to want to miss it.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to Coffee Break Theology. Be sure to tune in next time and remember to check out our other podcast series available on every major podcast listening service.
