Sermon Central
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The Design Of God
Contributed by Ken Alford on Nov 19, 2001 (message contributor)
Summary: GOD’S PLANS ARE STILL THE BEST PLANS. Genesis 2 inspires many thoughts but here I limit myself to one thought about the design of God. In the beginning God had a plan. Things were made according to His design. Out of this one thought we can examine thr
THE DESIGN OF GOD
INTRODUCTION:
1. Life can be like a puzzle. In searching for purpose we find pieces we recognize and connect them with one another. Boundaries are the easiest to discover and then pieces that fill in the details. When completed, there is a planned picture. The pieces in a jigsaw puzzle must be assembled the way they were designed in order for the picture to emerge complete and without distortion.
2. God Has A Plan For Your Life.
In 1976 a family in Calgary was renovating an old garage and found partially mouldy drawings behind a wall board. They were passed along to the University of Calgary, where their historical significance was immediately recognized.
The drawings?--plans put forward in 1914 by English architect-planner Thomas Mawson for Calgary’s future. They showed a blueprint for the city of 43,000 and its expected rapid expansion.
The drawings, depicting a classic Calgary with a civic centre, abundant space for performing arts and esthetically accommodated river banks, are fine examples of Edwardian taste in architecture.
“It would have been the only city in North America with that formal a design,” said Calgary planning director George Steber in a recent interview (as in The Calgary Herald, January 20, 1979).
The blueprint, if it had been adopted, would have made Calgary “the Paris of the Prairies.” But for some reason, whether the outbreak of World War II or the high cost involved, the blueprint was never approved and consequently Calgary grew without the master plan being followed. Commented Bob Blakey, Herald staff writer, “Calgary, with its dusty, turn-of-the-century streets newly vibrating with the brazen horseless carriage, might have emerged from the bald prairie as a sandstone monument to European architecture.”
Over how many lives could the words, “It might have been,” be written! God has a blueprint for each life. That plan includes a all the details. What is needed on our part is a willingness to accept that plan and submit our lives to God’s building program.
But how often we get distracted--our attention is turned to something else, and God’s plan never becomes a reality. It gets stacked away in some corner of our existence, neglected if not rejected. Or we shrink back from the cost involved. God demands a total commitment if His plan is to be initiated and implemented.
“It might have been”--sad word, indeed. May we resolve to fall in line with God’s blueprint and begin to see our lives taking shape according to His plan. (192) #14-21
PROP: GOD’S PLANS ARE STILL THE BEST PLANS.
TRANS: Genesis 2 inspires many thoughts but here I limit myself to one thought about the design of God. In the beginning God had a plan. Things were made according to His design. Out of this one thought we can examine three original plans of God.
I. GOD’S PLAN FOR A SPECIAL DAY (Genesis 2:3).
A. God “rested” from His creative work. What He did on day seven brought all other things to conclusion. Actually, the other things were complete by the end of day six, but He completely set aside day seven for other things. We are told that He sanctified and blessed the seventh day. This day was made special. It was part of God’s plan in the beginning.
B. Today Christians worship on the first day of the week. The seventh day was commemorated as a completion of creation. We commemorate the first day of the week as the day of Redemption’s beginning. The tomb of Christ was found empty on the first day of the week. We worship corporately on the first day.
God needs no rest.
C. The Sabbath of Exodus 20:11 is not the same as the seventh day in Genesis 2:3. The Sabbath is patterned after the seventh day of creation. The creation completion was the reason for the Sabbath rest. The seventh day which God blessed in Eden was the first day of human life and not the seventh. -Pulpit Commentary 222.11/PC
D. God blessed man’s first day of life when He completed His work of physical creation. It is no surprise then to find the first day of spiritual re-creation remembered and observed by Christians. The Sabbath was given as part of the Law patterned after God’s example at creation. The Law and Sabbath observance were fulfilled in Christ. Christ renewed each command for us except the fourth. Today we observe the first day for different reasons.
II. GOD’S PLAN FOR ONENESS WITH CREATION (Genesis 2:5).
A. In the created environment there was not a man to till the ground (vs 5). This reveals part of man’s purpose: to till the ground. Man was formed from the dust of the ground - the very same components which comprise all the rest of the universe. Man, in this sense, has a oneness with creation. He is distinct in that he bears God’s image and is commissioned to care for and oversee the rest of the created order. He represents His creator among the rest of creation. But those activities which get back to the original plan of God will probably be the most satisfying. Man was put in a garden to till it and keep it (Genesis 2:8,15). He was also to exercise dominion over animals (Genesis 1:26-28).
