Our Redeemer Lutheran Church
Quincy, IL
Rev. Larry D. Troxel
The Holy Trinity
Saturday, May 17, 2008 at 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, May 18, 2008 at 8:00 and 10:15 a.m
“Creation — Does the Biblical Record Matter?”
(Genesis 1:1 – 2:4a)
In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This weekend we are celebrating. In one of our services on Sunday we are celebrating the confirmation of four teenagers.
We will rejoice to hear them speak their confession of faith.
This weekend we also are celebrating who the true God is. This is the festival known as The Holy Trinity. We confess our
confidence that the true God is beyond our ability to understand, to comprehend, to explain. How can it be that there is
only one true God and yet He has made Himself known as three separate and distinct persons, God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit? Our finite brains cannot figure out how this can be true. And it is good for us that we cannot
figure out God, that He is more in every way than we can comprehend.
The Scripture readings appointed for this festival set before us God as the Creator and Preserver of all that exists.
They set before us God as the One who has given His people their mission in life, namely, to make disciples of all nations.
And they set before us God in action, bestowing the gift of saving faith in Christ Jesus who has risen in victory for all
people over death and hell.
For this festival, I have chosen for my sermon text the Creation account from the first and second chapters of Genesis.
When I realized that this would be the sermon for the confirmation for some of our teenagers, my first impulse was to
abandon this plan and to choose a text that would seem far more appropriate for the occasion. I also thought about writing
two sermons, one for the Saturday evening and 8:00 a.m. Sunday morning services and the other for the 10:15 a.m. service
with the Rite of Confirmation. But the more I thought about the options, I realized that this text is very appropriate for
all three services.
So I am asking myself and I am asking you the question many Bible-believing Christians never ask. “Creation —
Does the Biblical Record Matter?” As you will see, your answer to this question reveals, first of all, how you
regard Holy Scripture, secondly, where you stand with respect to a number of currently controversial issues, and thirdly
and most important of all, what you really believe about Christ Jesus.
Most, if not all, of us live with the realization that the Biblical record of the Creation is regarded by many as legend or
mythology or a fairy tale. Within the past month Ben Stein’s motion picture, Expelled — No Intelligence Allowed,
created quite a sensation as he documented the very real opposition in academic circles to the Biblical record of the Creation.
It hardly qualifies as news because that opposition has been well known for many years. Still, it is refreshing to have that
opposition exposed so publicly.
Even Christians who believe that the Bible is the Word of God find enticing the theories of those who uphold and defend the
speculations of the proponents of Darwinian evolutionary theory. Indeed, for many whose careers are located in the realms of
academics and science, evolutionary theory has become the religion they choose to defend at all costs.
The first casualty of rejecting the Biblical record of the creation is what you believe about Holy Scripture. If your
thinking is consistent, you cannot espouse evolutionary theory and still claim that you believe the Bible is God’s
Word. And when you reject the status of the Bible as the Word of God, you have cut yourself loose from any concept of
absolute truth, from any concept of absolute standards of morality and of right and wrong. One of the things that makes
evolutionary theory so attractive to so many people is that it makes standards of morality a relative matter. What Holy
Scripture may declare to be ungodly, immoral, and just plain wrong has become a matter of personal opinion and choice.
Sadly, that is where a vast majority of the people in our nation are living.
The teens who are confirmed this weekend are taking a very bold stand. While many of their teachers and fellow students
do not believe that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant Word of God and the only source and standard for faith and life,
they are boldly stating that the Bible is the Word of God. We who are worshiping with them and rejoicing in their
confession are taking the same bold stand. May God the Holy Spirit keep us firm and unchanging in this bold confession
of faith.
“Creation — Does the Biblical Record Matter?” Your answer to that question reveals, secondly, where you
stand with respect to a number of controversial issues. One such issue is the place of human beings in the midst of all
that exists. Are human beings a separate and unique creation of God, the crown of His creating work? Or are human beings
just highly developed animals, to be considered on the same level as other animals or even lower than some other animals?
Those who deny that the Bible is God’s Word and who claim that the Biblical record of creation is not true view
themselves and all other humans as nothing more than highly developed animals. Some people would elevate dolphins, some
apes, and certain other mammals to a position well above the place they assign to human beings. And that leads to cultural
and legislative decisions that we cannot reconcile with Holy Scripture.
According to Holy Scripture, God has placed human beings in a position of dominion over the rest of His creation and in a
position of responsibility for the proper care of God’s creation. The Biblical record of creation quotes God as
saying to both Adam and Eve, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the
fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”1
So the Word of God has much to say to us about our place in all that God created and how we are caring for God’s
creation.
The acceptance of homosexuality as an alternative life-style, one that is openly promoted in the entertainment industry,
and the judicial and legislative efforts to permit and even promote so-called same-sex “marriages” are the
natural result of the rejection of the Biblical record of the creation. The confusion about the proper roles for men
and for women in society, in the business world, and even in the church illustrate show just how far we have moved away
from the clear teachings of the Word of God. More and more we see schools and government agencies being made to serve
as substitutes for parents. The high number of children being born to parents who are not married and the almost
glorification of being a single mother demonstrate just how far we have moved away from Holy Scripture.
Those who reject the Biblical record of the creation have opened the floodgates to immorality, to the destruction of
marriages and family life, and to the breakdown of society. Those who reject the Biblical record of the creation
promote thinking and behavior that is self-centered and out of balance with reality. Their theories have us fearing
calamities which have never been proven to be real, all the while they refuse to consider the eternal danger that
awaits all who reject the nature and authority of Holy Scripture.
The worst consequence of rejecting the Biblical record of the creation is that it destroys the Person and work of our
Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. For if the Biblical record of the creation is not true, then there is no such thing as
sin and we have no need for a Savior. Those who reject the Biblical record of the creation deny what Holy Scripture
says about Jesus, namely, “All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was
made.”2
The truth is that Christ Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, God the Son, was present at the creation and had an
active role in creating everything that God made. In the opening verses of his Gospel, the Apostle John repeated refers
to God the Son, to Jesus, as “the Word.”3 Many of us are familiar with the verse that says,
“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father,
full of grace and truth.”4 It is this “Word,” whom we know as Jesus, who is
present in the creation account every time that it says, “And God said, …”5
It is this Jesus, who actively made everything that exists, who also took on human flesh and blood so that He could fulfill
all the demands of God’s Law for us, die as our true Substitute, taking upon Himself our sin, our guilt, and our
punishment, and rise in victory over death, the grave, and hell for us. He did this for all people of all time. And now He
lives and rules the entire universe for the benefit of His church.
This is the One whom we confess as our Savior and Lord. Jesus is the one whom our teens will confess in their confirmation
vows. And because of how intimately Jesus has been involved in our creation and in our redemption, we join with
Him6 in declaring that the Biblical record of the creation is the absolute, divine truth.
Because we make this confession, we are certain that we will face all manner of opposition. Whenever we uphold the Word of
God as divine truth, we are opposed by the unbelief which is so widespread among people. We are opposed by our own desire
to be seen as bright and educated. We are opposed by the old evil foe himself. But the Savior who gave Himself for us
stands with us. He strengthens us through His Word and blessed Sacrament. He who already has forgiven all our sin will
strengthen us and protect us through every day to come.
And please understand that there is a place for scientific inquiry and research. It is one of the many gifts God has given
us. What I have said is what I personally believe, all the while acknowledging my own college background in mathematics,
chemistry, and physics. I do not despise or condemn valid scientific inquiry and research. But it must always remain
subservient to the Word of God. Science must recognize and accept its role as a gift God has given us to be used in godly
ways not to deny its Creator but rather to bring Him the glory and honor He is due and to serve the well-being of His
creation.
Now to the only true God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be all praise and glory now and forever. Amen.