One thing that I really enjoy about having a smart phone is that I can listen to podcasts while I walk or drive. Timothy Keller of Redeemer Church in New York City has his sermons available in podcasts through Gospel in Life. I find him thoughtful, intelligent and relevant. Being up in the beauty of Napa reminded me of one of his sermons that I had recently listened to about Genesis 1-3, titled The Song of Creation.
I jotted down some of it verbatim as well as summarizing some of it here for you.
"You hear the music of the waterfall... Why is it so moving? Nature is singing the praises of its Maker and it is calling you in. "
Simone Weil wrote, 'The love we feel for the splendor of the heavens, the plains, the sea and the mountains, for the silence of nature which is born in us in its thousands of tiny sounds... this love for which every human being has an inkling is incomplete and painful. It calls us in but we can't get in.'
C.S. Lewis writes, 'We do not just want to see beauty when we look at nature, we want something else which we can hardly put into words, we want to be united with the beauty we see, we want to pass into it, we want to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it... At present we feel like we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door, we discern the freshness and beauty of the morning, but they don't make us fresh and beautiful. We cannot mingle with the splendors we see, we feel cut off from something.'
Simone Weil continues, 'There's a beauty in nature, a spirituality, we are drawn to it. It is music praising its Creator, its glorifying its Creator and it is singing to you about its Creator, it's inviting you into the circle, and yet, we can't go... Nature is a choir. It sings to us. It is singing, "Our Maker loves us, our Maker says we are good!"'
Tim Keeler says, "Why is the beauty in nature painful? Because we can't sing the same song. Every human being has chosen to be their own master, their own lord. As a result, we experience two things.
First, when we hear nature calling to us to praise our Maker, we have a little trouble with it, because that's not the way our lives go. Nature is saying, 'Our Maker loves us. Our Maker says we are good. Our Maker enjoys us and delights in us.' Deep in your soul, you know you need one thing more than anything else. You need to know that your Maker looks at you and says you are good. You are right. I love you. You have no flaws. I see no blemish in you.
You need to know that your Maker sings to you of your beauty. You need that. But you know you're not good. You know you are not right with Him. You know you've rebelled. That's what Genesis 1-3 tells us. So we can't sing the song. We need it but we know there's a barrier. So what are we going to do?
Genesis 1 points to it. Where else in the Bible does it start out with, 'In the beginning"? 1 John 1. It tells us that the Word of God in whom all things were created, Jesus Christ, became flesh. The Word that made matter became matter. And He came to earth and went to the cross. And on the cross, you see the exact opposite of what happened in Genesis 1.
He spoke and there was no answer, nothing happened. 'My God, my God,' no answer. He was emptied instead of being filled... He was de-created, de-constructed. He sought God's presence. Why? Our Maker had to be unmade so that we could be remade, recreated.
Do you believe that He did this for you? If so, you believe that He did that in your place, you know that God loves you, and that God can actually look at you in Christ and say, 'You are good!' And you need to hear that so badly that until the Spirit of God brings that word into your heart, your life has a void, an emptiness... You need to know that because of what Jesus did, the Father can now look at you and say, 'You are good!' Until you really hear that, you can't join in the song. Nature is talking to every human being about God, we all know it down deep, but it is not just talking to us about God in general. It is pointing us to sing, and we can't sing until we see that our Maker was unmade so that we could be remade."
So, that was the gist of the podcast. I want to join in the Song. I hope you do too!
I jotted down some of it verbatim as well as summarizing some of it here for you.
"You hear the music of the waterfall... Why is it so moving? Nature is singing the praises of its Maker and it is calling you in. "
Simone Weil wrote, 'The love we feel for the splendor of the heavens, the plains, the sea and the mountains, for the silence of nature which is born in us in its thousands of tiny sounds... this love for which every human being has an inkling is incomplete and painful. It calls us in but we can't get in.'
C.S. Lewis writes, 'We do not just want to see beauty when we look at nature, we want something else which we can hardly put into words, we want to be united with the beauty we see, we want to pass into it, we want to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it... At present we feel like we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door, we discern the freshness and beauty of the morning, but they don't make us fresh and beautiful. We cannot mingle with the splendors we see, we feel cut off from something.'
Simone Weil continues, 'There's a beauty in nature, a spirituality, we are drawn to it. It is music praising its Creator, its glorifying its Creator and it is singing to you about its Creator, it's inviting you into the circle, and yet, we can't go... Nature is a choir. It sings to us. It is singing, "Our Maker loves us, our Maker says we are good!"'
Tim Keeler says, "Why is the beauty in nature painful? Because we can't sing the same song. Every human being has chosen to be their own master, their own lord. As a result, we experience two things.
First, when we hear nature calling to us to praise our Maker, we have a little trouble with it, because that's not the way our lives go. Nature is saying, 'Our Maker loves us. Our Maker says we are good. Our Maker enjoys us and delights in us.' Deep in your soul, you know you need one thing more than anything else. You need to know that your Maker looks at you and says you are good. You are right. I love you. You have no flaws. I see no blemish in you.
You need to know that your Maker sings to you of your beauty. You need that. But you know you're not good. You know you are not right with Him. You know you've rebelled. That's what Genesis 1-3 tells us. So we can't sing the song. We need it but we know there's a barrier. So what are we going to do?
Genesis 1 points to it. Where else in the Bible does it start out with, 'In the beginning"? 1 John 1. It tells us that the Word of God in whom all things were created, Jesus Christ, became flesh. The Word that made matter became matter. And He came to earth and went to the cross. And on the cross, you see the exact opposite of what happened in Genesis 1.
He spoke and there was no answer, nothing happened. 'My God, my God,' no answer. He was emptied instead of being filled... He was de-created, de-constructed. He sought God's presence. Why? Our Maker had to be unmade so that we could be remade, recreated.
Do you believe that He did this for you? If so, you believe that He did that in your place, you know that God loves you, and that God can actually look at you in Christ and say, 'You are good!' And you need to hear that so badly that until the Spirit of God brings that word into your heart, your life has a void, an emptiness... You need to know that because of what Jesus did, the Father can now look at you and say, 'You are good!' Until you really hear that, you can't join in the song. Nature is talking to every human being about God, we all know it down deep, but it is not just talking to us about God in general. It is pointing us to sing, and we can't sing until we see that our Maker was unmade so that we could be remade."
So, that was the gist of the podcast. I want to join in the Song. I hope you do too!
No comments:
Post a Comment