Title: The Father / Article 1 Creation
Text: Gen. 2:15-17
Live: The Father / Article 1 Creation
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Our midweek Advent theme this year is:
Apostles Creed / The Fall and the way of Life
As we look to the incarnation and coming of the Christ child, our Lord Jesus Christ, we do so in light of the God Head, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Creed, and the work of the God / Man himself, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
The Small Catechisms order is important. In it we learn of the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, Baptism, Confession – aka the office of the keys, and the Lord’s Supper.
The distinction between Law and Gospel is important too.
In Luther’s day the Creed was divided into 12 articles and for the Roman Catholic Church it still is.
Luther writes:
In former times you heard preaching on twelve articles of the Creed. If anybody wants to divide it up, he could find even more. You, however, should divide the Creed into the main parts indicated by the fact that there are three persons: God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit;
LW Vol.51 Pg. 162
God is one
For Luther, it was important in his teaching on the Creed to show the oneness of God, and the uniqueness and distinction of persons. So, there is a trinity and a unity that he taught in the Creed revealing the Father, Son + and Holy Spirit and their work.
We will look to God during these midweek Advent services and the relationship of the persons in the Godhead, as it pertains to the hope of Christ and his work, the uniqueness and unity of the persons for the salvation of the world, and especially as we anticipate the coming of the Christ child this Advent.
In the Creed we learn of the triune nature of God, his involvement with Creation, Redemption, and Sanctification and his activity expressed in the Creed, revealing what he has done, and more importantly, what he has done for me.
Today we focus on the First Article, Of Creation
The revelation of who God is begins in the first Article.
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.
What does this mean?
–Answer: I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my limbs, my reason, and all my senses, and still preserves them; in addition thereto, clothing and shoes, meat and drink, house and homestead, wife and children, fields, cattle, and all my goods; that He provides me richly and daily with all that I need to support this body and life, protects me from all danger, and guards me and preserves me from all evil; and all this out of pure, fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me; for all which I owe it to Him to thank, praise, serve, and obey Him. This is most certainly true.
Source: https://bookofconcord.org/small-catechism/
In our text:
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
Adam, created by God on the 6th day and blessed with all of God’s work is given dominion to care for God’s good creation.
31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
God’s own word proclaims that his work is good. So, this first Adam is good, and all he has to care for is good creation of God. He is even given a suitable helper created out of man saying:
“This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.”
The perfection of beauty in God’s creation is made evident not only in the diversity of things created, but in fullness of his creation seen in the image of God - reflected in this Adam.
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
As Christians we confess in the Creed, I believe.
Webster says:
To believe is to consider something honest and true, genuine and real, and to accept the evidence.
Our belief is all gift, revealed in the one true God who has created all things - this Father Almighty - Maker of Heaven and Earth!
This faith and statement are only something we can confess - because of the full work of the triune God who has reconciled us, and brought us to faith in him, so that we can see who he is, what he has done, worship him in spirit and truth … and call him Father.
It is certainly true that all of these good created gifts come from God and that all people find benefit in God’s good creation; but it is not possible to know God as Father, to thank him, or to call on him, apart from his work in revealing himself to you and me.
It is the fullness of God’s love and grace that he has created us in his image and that he desires to have fellowship with us as creator and creation, and, that in spite of sin and the fall, God desires to save us from an eternity separated from him.
And God said.
The speaking of creation into existence, unites the Father with the Word.
And while as Luther makes clear in his Large Catechism:
… that the Ten Commandments have taught that we are to have no more than one God [Deuteronomy 6:4] So it might be asked, “What kind of a person is God? What does he do?”
So that the Creed is nothing else than the answer and confession of Christians arranged with respect to the First Commandment. As if you were to ask a little child:
11 My dear, what sort of a God have you? What do you know of Him? he could say:
This is my God: first, the Father, who has created heaven and earth; besides this only One I regard nothing else as God; for there is no one else who could create heaven and earth.
In Creation the eternal Word is active!
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
The Father’s intent brought forth a perfect creation, culminating in the creation of Adam.
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
But we don’t see perfection in our world. The fall into sin is fully evident.
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
We all are bound in this reality.
Fallen into sin and death, we know that we shall surely die. But, God the father, through the sending of his only Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ, who is the Word made flesh – in Love, desires to restore what was broken in the fall making peace between God and man.
Bound in love God the Father sends his son to redeem we, who are bound in sin and death, so that we might be redeemed and restored to himself.
Friends, our fall into sin is terminal, but our Heavenly Father – through the sending of his son – restores hope in a hopeless world. He breaks the bonds of sin and death, and he gives we, who are terminal, eternal life - by faith in his son our Lord Jesus. The Christ child of our Advent hope.
The banishing of Adam and Eve from the garden, shows God’s love and purpose in redemption. Which is to save those who might eat from the tree of life and live forever in their fallen state.
God’s purpose as we wait for the coming Christ of God this Advent, is to bring those broken in sin, through the atoning sacrifice of his son, to the banquet feast of the Lamb and to an eternity prepared for them in Christ!
To this blessed good news, we confess:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.
To this we make our confession in Gods creative power, and recreative power - to restore what had been broken in the fall, and through the coming Christ of God, to give us peace and hope in the babe of Bethlehem.
In the name of the Father and of the Son+ and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Our midweek Advent theme this year is:
Apostles Creed / The Fall and the way of Life
As we look to the incarnation and coming of the Christ child, our Lord Jesus Christ, we do so in light of the God Head, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Creed, and the work of the God / Man himself, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
The Small Catechisms order is important. In it we learn of the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, Baptism, Confession – aka the office of the keys, and the Lord’s Supper.
The distinction between Law and Gospel is important too.
In Luther’s day the Creed was divided into 12 articles and for the Roman Catholic Church it still is.
Luther writes:
In former times you heard preaching on twelve articles of the Creed. If anybody wants to divide it up, he could find even more. You, however, should divide the Creed into the main parts indicated by the fact that there are three persons: God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit;
LW Vol.51 Pg. 162
God is one
For Luther, it was important in his teaching on the Creed to show the oneness of God, and the uniqueness and distinction of persons. So, there is a trinity and a unity that he taught in the Creed revealing the Father, Son + and Holy Spirit and their work.
We will look to God during these midweek Advent services and the relationship of the persons in the Godhead, as it pertains to the hope of Christ and his work, the uniqueness and unity of the persons for the salvation of the world, and especially as we anticipate the coming of the Christ child this Advent.
In the Creed we learn of the triune nature of God, his involvement with Creation, Redemption, and Sanctification and his activity expressed in the Creed, revealing what he has done, and more importantly, what he has done for me.
Today we focus on the First Article, Of Creation
The revelation of who God is begins in the first Article.
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.
What does this mean?
–Answer: I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my limbs, my reason, and all my senses, and still preserves them; in addition thereto, clothing and shoes, meat and drink, house and homestead, wife and children, fields, cattle, and all my goods; that He provides me richly and daily with all that I need to support this body and life, protects me from all danger, and guards me and preserves me from all evil; and all this out of pure, fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me; for all which I owe it to Him to thank, praise, serve, and obey Him. This is most certainly true.
Source: https://bookofconcord.org/small-catechism/
In our text:
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
Adam, created by God on the 6th day and blessed with all of God’s work is given dominion to care for God’s good creation.
31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
God’s own word proclaims that his work is good. So, this first Adam is good, and all he has to care for is good creation of God. He is even given a suitable helper created out of man saying:
“This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.”
The perfection of beauty in God’s creation is made evident not only in the diversity of things created, but in fullness of his creation seen in the image of God - reflected in this Adam.
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
As Christians we confess in the Creed, I believe.
Webster says:
To believe is to consider something honest and true, genuine and real, and to accept the evidence.
Our belief is all gift, revealed in the one true God who has created all things - this Father Almighty - Maker of Heaven and Earth!
This faith and statement are only something we can confess - because of the full work of the triune God who has reconciled us, and brought us to faith in him, so that we can see who he is, what he has done, worship him in spirit and truth … and call him Father.
It is certainly true that all of these good created gifts come from God and that all people find benefit in God’s good creation; but it is not possible to know God as Father, to thank him, or to call on him, apart from his work in revealing himself to you and me.
It is the fullness of God’s love and grace that he has created us in his image and that he desires to have fellowship with us as creator and creation, and, that in spite of sin and the fall, God desires to save us from an eternity separated from him.
And God said.
The speaking of creation into existence, unites the Father with the Word.
And while as Luther makes clear in his Large Catechism:
… that the Ten Commandments have taught that we are to have no more than one God [Deuteronomy 6:4] So it might be asked, “What kind of a person is God? What does he do?”
So that the Creed is nothing else than the answer and confession of Christians arranged with respect to the First Commandment. As if you were to ask a little child:
11 My dear, what sort of a God have you? What do you know of Him? he could say:
This is my God: first, the Father, who has created heaven and earth; besides this only One I regard nothing else as God; for there is no one else who could create heaven and earth.
In Creation the eternal Word is active!
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
The Father’s intent brought forth a perfect creation, culminating in the creation of Adam.
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
But we don’t see perfection in our world. The fall into sin is fully evident.
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
We all are bound in this reality.
Fallen into sin and death, we know that we shall surely die. But, God the father, through the sending of his only Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ, who is the Word made flesh – in Love, desires to restore what was broken in the fall making peace between God and man.
Bound in love God the Father sends his son to redeem we, who are bound in sin and death, so that we might be redeemed and restored to himself.
Friends, our fall into sin is terminal, but our Heavenly Father – through the sending of his son – restores hope in a hopeless world. He breaks the bonds of sin and death, and he gives we, who are terminal, eternal life - by faith in his son our Lord Jesus. The Christ child of our Advent hope.
The banishing of Adam and Eve from the garden, shows God’s love and purpose in redemption. Which is to save those who might eat from the tree of life and live forever in their fallen state.
God’s purpose as we wait for the coming Christ of God this Advent, is to bring those broken in sin, through the atoning sacrifice of his son, to the banquet feast of the Lamb and to an eternity prepared for them in Christ!
To this blessed good news, we confess:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.
To this we make our confession in Gods creative power, and recreative power - to restore what had been broken in the fall, and through the coming Christ of God, to give us peace and hope in the babe of Bethlehem.
In the name of the Father and of the Son+ and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen
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