"The Spirit and Creation's Purpose"
The renewing power of the Holy Spirit
Sermon Preached by
The Rev. Dr. Andrew Stirling
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Text: Psalm 104:24-30
I watched magnificent performances in the realm of sport with great envy over the course of this week. Usain Bolt darted around Varsity Stadium - he was a blur! I hardly saw him! Amazing speed, and I felt a little slow in comparison. I watched Tiger Woods come back from injury and win the Memorial in his usual flash-and-glam style. I must say, I was surprised that someone could come back from injuries so quickly. I watched another amazing golfer, Anna Nordquist, a rookie, and thought, “My gosh! This woman can sink 30-foot putts - and I can't do them from 3 inches! This is amazing!” I have watched all kinds of great athletes, like Maxime Talbot scoring winning goals in the Stanley Cup this week, and I must admit that I don't feel like any one of them!
I think I feel a little bit more like Jean van de Velde. Do you remember him? He was the leader going into the final hole of the British Open in 1999. All he needed to do was shoot a six on a par four. I can do that - on a good day. I watched him completely disintegrate. He got out his driver when everyone else would have got out an iron. He got in a bunker and decided to chip his way through the highest part. His ball landed in a marsh and he decided to climb into the marsh with his socks on and hit the ball out of it. He was told not to go to the green on his next shot, but just to lay up. But, van de Velde went for the green. What happened? He missed it! He finally shot something more than a six - he shot a seven, and was in a playoff and will forever be remembered as the idiot who lost the British Open.
I have felt like him so many times over the last 10 years when I have been on a golf course. Van de Velde said - and Max Lucado made a point about this in a book - that he felt okay about losing, because he “did it his way.” Frank Sinatra would have been proud. So many of us like to do things our way - to assert our independence, to let people know we are special, to have a sense of our own being. When we bring up children, we often encourage them, and rightly so, to be themselves, to develop their own personalities, to have a strength of character and courage, to do things their way. But the problem with that is it ignores something important. It is okay to do things your own way at times and to be yourself, but there are times when you need something more - you need to do it God's way. Psalm 104 contains an incredible passage that has absolutely nothing to do with doing things our way or even God's way. Rather, it is a reference to the power of God's Spirit. We find in this text a belief that the Spirit of God is a powerful spirit that has made the entire universe.
I want to look at this, not because I want to look at whether or not we believe in evolution as opposed to non-evolution - that is just a matter of timing. I want to talk about purpose, about why the Spirit of God made the world in the first place. I do this because I believe that the Spirit that created the world is the very same spirit that lives in our hearts and lives by faith. The Spirit that made this incredible universe is the same Spirit we prayed for when we baptized these children this morning. There is a correlation between the God that made the world and the power of that Spirit and our very existence.
What is amazing about this text is that it reveals several things about the Spirit making the world. First, it suggests is that the Lord made the world for a purpose. Second, it says that God set all the seasons to preserve and take care of the world; God not only creates the earth, God provides the sun and moon, the beasts of the sea and sky and all other created things to sustain it. It was God's Spirit that moved on the waters and created the earth. Then, there is a dramatic statement that if God withdraws his Spirit, his Ruach, from the earth, the earth becomes dust. In other words, the world and creation depend on God and God's Spirit. The last thing it suggests is that the response to this Spirit is one of praise, adoration and meditation. In awe of this earth that has been created, we are to respond by recognizing the creator and maker of everything.
This draws me to another thought. If God's Spirit is the maker of this universe and these beautiful children who formed in the womb and were brought before us this morning are creations of God, then is it not also true that, having made the beauty of this world and created these children in his image, God would care for his creation? I think it is true that he does. Over and over again, the scriptures suggest that God cares for the world he has made and renews it when it crumbles. God remakes it when it falls. The wonderful thing about the story of Pentecost and the birth of the Church is that, when the disciples gathered in the Upper Room, the elements of creation came down upon them. Wind and fire blew through them. The very power of the creative order demonstrated how God was renewing and refashioning his people.
The God who made the earth cares for it; the God who created it renews it. The God who wrought it from nothing loves it and wishes to maintain it. So often, when we look at the world we despair in its brokenness. At times, when we look at the state of children throughout the world, many of whom live in terror, poverty or illness, we wonder whether God cares, whether the God who made the world remains involved in it. The Scriptures suggest that God does.
The fact that this world needs care requires that we, as human beings living in this world, be made new. We need to be changed from our sinfulness into the righteousness of God, from our self-absorption into God-absorption. We need to look not just at our own needs, but also at the needs of the world around us. You can try to do that by virtue of the law, by saying “You must do this,” or “You must do that.” But, the law and all the great things you might tell people to do is not enough.
This was brought home to me recently when I got a parking ticket. I thought of a story about a preacher who had the same experience. He had being trying to park the car to make a visit, and had driven around the block about 10 times. Despite trying everything he couldn't find a parking space, so he parked illegally. He left a note on the windshield for any parking attendant that might come along. It said, “I have driven around this block 10 times. I have not been able to find a place, so I ask, 'Father, forgive me!'” When he returned to his car, and he found a ticket on his windshield, signed by the attendant. It said, “I have walked around this block for 10 years, and seen many different people try to park here. But if I don't give you a ticket, I will lose my job - 'Lead us not into temptation.'”
We can refer to the law in an effort to make ourselves better people, but the scripture says we are made in the likeness of God by the power of the Holy Spirit. The renewing power of the Holy Spirit comes upon us. It is God who made this magnificent world and these beautiful children. It is God who cares for this creation, who loves us so much that he has given us his Spirit that we may walk in his footsteps.
I read a wonderful poem by Maltbie Babcock. It says everything.
No distant Lord have I
loving afar to be;
Made flesh for me, he cannot rest
Unless he rests in me.
Ascended now to God,
my witness there to be,
His witness here I am, because
His Spirit dwells in me.
May the Spirit who created this world, the Spirit of God the Father and the Son, dwell in these children, their families and all of you, that you may glorify him forever. Amen.