Now, let's turn in the Word of God to the New Testament. We're reading together in Gospel according to Matthew, Matthew 6, and we're beginning to read at verse 19, the portion of the Sermon on the Mount and the pattern of life that King Jesus lays down for the citizens of his kingdom. "'Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourself treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness? No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you, by worrying, can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon, in all his splendor, was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothed the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, Will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? The pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. We've begun to think the last couple of Lord's Day evenings on the theme of God and creation. A very important subject in the scriptures, and particularly in the light of the world in which God has placed us. These are issues creation, the environment, and so on, that are very much in discussion. And as Christians, we need to be able to think in a biblical way about these issues and to speak in a Christian way whenever the subject arises. And we stressed at the very beginning that our understanding of the world, indeed of the universe, must be God-centered. It won't be accurate unless it is God-centered. centered. Yes, he is the focus because he is the creator. The whole universe is the product of the mind of God. It's not random or accidental. And as we've seen, God's described in scripture as a builder, as an artist, creating beauty, putting forth his power to fulfill his plan and purpose. So we want to consider then this evening how the truths that we've already looked at about God and creation ought to affect the spiritual life of God's people. As it were, taking stock of where we've reached this evening and to think, well, what should our response be to these foundations that we've been drawing in our past two studies? What impact? Because we're not interested in something that's just theoretical. and floating, as it were, up in the air. The Bible always calls us to obedience, so what effect will these things have on our Christian living? And so this evening, we're thinking about creation and spirituality. Creation and spirituality. And as always, of course, we begin with God. We're doing that. We're seeking to do that every time. Got to begin in the right place. we begin with God. And we can think of Psalm 19 and verse 1. For example, the heavens declare the glory of God. The skies proclaim the work of his hands. And that's reminding us that the natural world, we look out on it, and we can see perhaps beautiful scenery. We can see various features of the creation. And we have there a revelation of God, what we sometimes call general revelation, because they're for everybody. Anybody who looks at the world can see a revelation of God. Now, they may not realize that. They may want to close their minds to it, but it's there. There is evidence for the existence of a Creator, God. So when anybody looks at any part of God's creation, he sees something of what God is like. And that is true despite the damage that the fall has wrought in the creation, the damage that sin has brought into God's world. And again, that will be a theme for another evening, because this is a fallen world. It's not in the perfection in which it came from the hand of God. Sin has done damage, and yet not so much that we cannot look out at the creation and see something of the hand of God there. So, we mustn't ever forget the opening words of Psalm 24. The earth is the Lord's. The earth is the Lord's. It doesn't say that the earth was the Lord's, but what a pity sin has come in and it isn't the Lord's anymore. No. Despite the entrance of sin into the good creation, despite the damage it has done on our own sinfulness, the earth still is the Lord's. And that's a fundamental fact for the Christian. It is still God's world. Satan hasn't taken it out of God's hands and got control of the material world. Yes, he works in the hearts of sinful people, but the earth is not Satan's. It is the Lord's. And we must hold on to that important truth. We look out in the world, and we are still able to see the hand of God. It is His world. That is something that, as we see, should delight us, should encourage us. So, as Christians, when we look out at God's world, when we look at His creation, we should be practicing what we could call looking through the creation in order to see God. So that we look at the beauties of God's world and we don't stop there. It's like looking through a window and we look through it and ultimately we see God. Because it's God who's behind the whole of the creation. God and his beauty and his majesty. And as Christians, we should be consciously training ourselves to see the creation as a revelation of God, to see it as his handiwork. Whether we're looking at this world or perhaps television, by other means, we're seeing some of the wonders of the corners of the universe. And to think, yes, behind all of this, is our Father. This is His work. Look at a beautiful piece of scenery, and you are delighted by it. And we need to think, my Father made this. You see some of the pictures produced by, for example, the Hubble Telescope way out the universe, and now its successor has been deployed. And it will produce amazing pictures of the depths of the universe. And to look at those pictures and think, my father made these things. They're his handiwork. How wonderful it is to see these things. What a privilege. And it reminds us that when we look at this world, the material and the physical world that we can touch and see and hear is not all that there is. There is another world. There is a spiritual world, a spiritual dimension, as God Himself is Spirit. And the material world that we look at and we enjoy testifies to the spiritual realm that is just as real. Maybe sometimes we tend to think that the world we can touch and see and feel is somehow more real in the spiritual world, but it's not. Indeed, the spiritual world is the ultimate reality. And that's the kind of way of thinking that we ought to be cultivating as Christians, to be able to look through the creation and see behind it all, there is our God. This is His world. He has made it and He's sovereign over it, and the earth still is the Lord's. Wherever we look in the creation, whether it's through a microscope and see forms of life that you can't see with the naked eye, or you look just at the scenery around you, or you see pictures of the depths of the universe, God is there. And that is how we are to be thinking about the whole creation. In Psalm 104, Verse 24, a great nature Psalms. The earth is full of your creatures. If you remembered last time, many of those creatures only God will see. No human being will see millions of those forms of life, but God sees them. They're his handiwork. And that, as Christians, is a perspective we need in the world in which we are living today. Because that worldview that there is a spiritual realm and the universe itself is the handiwork of God really is flatly contradictory to the worldview in which many are functioning today, many scientists today. And certainly at the popular level and what people understand of science This Christian view is very different from really what rules the ways of thinking around us. That wasn't always the case. Remember that at the beginnings of modern science, back in the 17th century, many of the first scientists were Christians. Don't swallow the story that religion and science are always in conflict and have always contradicted each other, because that isn't actually the case. There were many Christians in the early days of the development of science, and one of the reasons was because they believed here is an ordered world, the product of the mind of God, and so we can study it. And we can probe at steps, and we can find out the laws that God's built into the creation. So many of them are believers. And so Christianity isn't the enemy of good science. It's the best friend good science actually could have. But that, of course, isn't how many function now. Really, the worldview that shapes the thinking of a lot of people around us is what we call naturalism. Now naturalism means the idea that what we can perceive with our senses, what we can see, what we can touch, what we can hear, what we can smell, that is all there is. That's the beginning and end of reality. There is no other world, it is only the material. And for many, that is the reigning worldview of our culture. The material, the physical world is all there is. It's what has been called by some, nothing buttery. In other words, the material is the beginning and end of reality. It is nothing but the material. And the whole idea of a spiritual world is just dismissed. And the idea that there might be a creator behind the world is just treated as ridiculous. And that's the world in which we are living. It's the world in which our young people are growing up. It's the worldview that lies behind a lot of what you will hear and see in the media, the nature programs. Now, enjoy them. Enjoy the photography. Enjoy the skills. Enjoy learning about God's creation. But notice as you listen that the presenters, eminent names some of them, have no place for God in all of this. No thought that there's a creator behind the beauties, the wonders that they're studying and they're presenting to us in their programs. They don't see any need for a creator, in fact, suggestion that there is a creator would just be dismissed as superstition that people have grown out of long ago. And that's the worldview that keeps being put out in so much of the media. And that is what's shaping the minds of people. And as we say, particularly for young people growing up, that is the kind of worldview that they're getting. And one of our tasks as Christians is to train our young folk to think in a Christian way about these things. I mean, think of the privilege of being able to study the creation. Think of the Attenboroughs and others who've had a lifetime of looking at the beauties and the wonders of the creation. And then to turn around and say, well, it's all really just a cosmic accident and doesn't need a God to explain it. How tragic. those opportunities and yet not to see the hand of the creator in all of this. And so as we watch our programs, as we enjoy the wonders, the animal life, the bird life, plant life, whatever it may be, listen carefully to the kind of commentary that's been given and you'll pick up very quickly. Here are people who see all of these things but they don't see any need of a creator. The physical, material world in front of them is all there is. And that's the world in which we are called to witness and to bring the word of God. And it, of course, can be a very hostile world. You can ask some of the students in the natural sciences, for example, the kind of views that they're listening to that are being fed to them. No need for a God, for a creator. But part of our calling as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ is to learn to think in biblical ways about every area of life, working life, or study, or whatever it may be. We want to cultivate a Christian mind. Think like Christians. Don't, as Paul warned us, don't let the world squeeze you into its mold. That's a way you could paraphrase Romans 12 in verse 1. Don't let the world squeeze you into its ways of thinking, because you keep getting it, and you read it, you hear it, and you can find yourself slipping into these things. You think like a Christian, perhaps, in the Lord's day, in church. The danger is you may go out and just think like the world the rest of the time, and we've always got to be working against that. Romans 12, to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That's part of our discipleship, that our minds are being renewed by the Holy Spirit working within us, yes, making us holy people. And part of having our minds renewed by God's grace and by God's Spirit includes our thinking about the creation and about the world around us. So, we don't think like unbelievers. We think like Christians. We think like people who are shaped by this book, the very truth of God. We're thinking this morning about how the Scriptures were given when the Holy Spirit carried along holy men of God. This is the Word of God. This is God speaking to us. It has the very authority of God. And if that's the case, then this is the book that's to shape how we think about everything, including the creation. So again, we're back to our core idea. We need a God-centered view of creation. So how do we express that? If that's true, if we are developing this way of thinking, we're looking at the world, we think this is our Father's handiwork, look at the beauty of it and so on, how do we express that way of thinking? What will it look like? What effect will it have on us as Christians? And I think there are several things that are important for us as God's people And the first thing, above all, has to be worship. Worship. Of course, not worship of the creation, but worship of God. The better we know God, the more we will love Him. And the more we love Him, the more we will want to worship Him. And so, as we look at God's handiwork, it should promote worship. to look at a beautiful scene, mountains, rivers, sea, whatever it may be, whatever delights. Think of something that's really beautiful that you love to look at. And you see it and you enjoy it, but above all, it should move you to worship the God who made those things. And we're told something significant, Romans 1 and verse 20. This is what Paul tells us. Since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. Paul's telling us. You want a revelation of God? You want evidence that there is a God? Open your eyes. It's there in front of you, all around you. There is evidence of God's existence, and it should move us to worship, not to worship the creation. That's the response of the pagan, the one who sees some kind of deity, some sort of God in the material world. We're told in Romans 1, that's what sinners do, they worship the creation rather than the creator. So they worship the sun, they worship the moon, they worship some other part of the creation instead of worshiping God. Yet you look at the creation and what do you see? You see, surely, the power of God. the majesty of God, the goodness of God in providing for His creatures, the wisdom of God in putting all the parts together and how it works in such harmony. You see, the beauty of God, because a beautiful scene reflects the beauty of the Creator. So much of God that we can see when we look at His handiwork. So far from worshiping these things, We should find our thoughts drawn to God, the God who made them, and we should be cultivating an attitude of worship. Thank God for the beauty you see in His creation. Praise God for it. It should enhance your spiritual life. And that's our first response. It's our primary response, isn't it? Worship. If this is God's world, and we're looking at His handiwork, It moves us to worship. That's the first way in which this should impact our spiritual life. And nothing's more important than a desire to worship God and a growing desire to worship him. The second thing I would suggest is delight. Delight in God's world. And we've touched on this, but it bears, I think, repetition. We should derive pleasure from the things that our Father has made. Now, that would work just on a human level. If you have a father who's skilled in particular ways, perhaps with his hands, making things, and you'd delight in what your father has made. You'd be proud of him. And as Christians, we should delight in what our Father has made. We should find joy in contemplating the beauty and the richness of God's creation. Look at the world He's made. It's full of diversity. It's full of color. Do we need so many species of birds, for example? Would two or three not have done? Well, in one sense, they probably would. God made such diversity, so many forms of life, many of them that haven't even been discovered by human beings yet. You think of the colors of God's creation. He could, I suppose, have made a black and white creation. Look at the color. Look at the richness of it. And not just one or two shades of a color. We talk about the 40 shades of green. Well, maybe there are more than that, but do we need them all? Well, not in a utilitarian way, but again, it's the diversity and the richness of the world that God has made. diversity of the bird song and so forth. We could think of numerous examples. You could think of others of your own. The word is just bursting with richness and diversity. And in one sense, we don't need it for some practical purpose, but God has expressed his glory and his beauty in these things that we should delight in them. And Psalm 104 is a good Psalm expressing the delight of God's people. Verse 24, how many are your works, O Lord? Richness of the creation that reflects the richness of God's world, and we should delight in it. Perhaps some of you have seen firsthand or maybe in books some of the pictures that Dutch artists produced back in the 17th century. what we call still lives. And you would have pictures that would have all sorts of things in them. And there would be flowers and birds and maybe cheese and bread. And at first, you might think, well, that's very ordinary stuff. Why are people painting pictures of these things? And if you've seen them, I mean, so realistic, you think you could reach out and touch them. You might have the beads of condensation on the outside of a glass. It looks real. Why were they doing these things? Why did they think it was worthwhile painting those pictures of very ordinary things? Well, the answer is that these artists were working in an environment of a Christian worldview, not saying that they necessarily themselves were Christians. But the culture they were in in Holland in the 17th century was thoroughly Christian, Calvinist culture. that had a high view of the creation, and ordinary things like bread and cheese and flowers and food and so forth, those were important because they were part of God's good creation. And that's why they painted pictures like that. They had a biblical view of creation, and it was tremendously world-affirming. And we should keep that in mind because people all around us think Christians are simply world-denying. People who always want to say, you can't do this, and you can't do that, and they can't enjoy the world, and they go around with long faces, and that's a Christian. And here were people in a Christian environment, delighting in the creation and its beauty and ordinary things. And that reflected a Christian way of thinking. These things mattered because they're part of God's world. And so a Christian worldview actually is world-affirming and delighting in God's handiwork. So there's worship. There's delight. Thirdly, I suggest we would respond with curiosity to God's creation. There's a proper place in the Christian life for taking an interest in discerning more of God's handiwork and creation And in looking at it and thinking about it, at a very simple level, it might mean simply looking more carefully at the world around us and start to see maybe some of the birds, some of the creatures, some of what's going on in nature as we move on, of course, towards spring and the changes that will be coming in the months ahead. And just looking more carefully and seeing what God has made. and being curious about it, wanting to know more. Maybe if you did science at school, maybe you were bored, rigid by it, maybe it wasn't well taught, whatever, but there were opportunities there to learn more about God's creation, even if it often was taught by those who weren't believers. And as we go on, we grow up And with such opportunities now with television, with the internet, so many ways of seeing aspects of the creation that people in the past never knew about. A real curiosity about God's world, to want to know more about it, because it is God's work. We want to understand it that little bit more and understand it with whatever ability God has given us. It's very interesting that just in fairly recent years, able scientists, not necessarily all Christians, but many of them are, who have been particularly studying the world, the physical world, looking for evidence that the world is an ordered, rational product. In other words, that there's a mind behind the creation. Because if the mind of God is behind the creation, we should expect that we'd be able, and we study it to see, marks of design. That it's not random, it's not chaos, there's design. And what's become called the intelligent design movement has been focusing on things like that. to see that this is not by chance, this is not random, this is God's handiwork. The evidence is there if you're willing to see it. Worship, delight, curiosity, thankfulness, fourthly, thankfulness. Because as we look at God's world and as we think about it, one of the things that's clear is God makes provision for his creatures. Psalm 145 and verse 16, the eyes of all things look to the Lord and then we're told you give them their food in due season. And we can link that with Matthew 10 31, Jesus He says to the disciples, He says to us, you're worth more than many sparrows. So if God provides for the animals, for the birds in His creation, He will provide for us. And He does provide richly. Now, it's been common in the past to think of famine in different parts of the world, and there are still places where that is the case, much less than there used to be. And the fact is, often shortages and famines have been the result of human greed and sinfulness. Yes, there are natural forces that can lead to shortages, but often many have suffered in famine because sometimes those at the top in government have creamed off the aid that was being sent and the relief and put it, as it were, in their own pockets, and it never got to the people who needed it. And so often it's human sin that lies behind famine and hardship. The Christian prays in the Lord's Prayer, Matthew 6, 11, give us today our daily bread. And we're acknowledging dependence on God. And surely that should nourish thankfulness when God does supply. ought to be in Christians a thankfulness for the provision God makes. Yes, we rejoice in salvation, we rejoice in grace, but we're also to rejoice in the provision for our bodies and food and clothing and shelter because ultimately they come from the hand of God. So we're to cultivate a thankfulness for God's good gifts, how easily we slip into just taking them for granted. Of course, we have enough to eat, and we have clothing, and we have what we need. Why wouldn't we? But it's God's provision. We're to be thankful and cultivate thankfulness. Worship, delight, curiosity, thankfulness. And one last thing, and that's responsibility. Responsibility. We're put in God's world as stewards and caretakers with different callings, different levels of responsibility, but we ought to have a concern for our Father's world, to care for it wherever we've opportunity. It's part of our duty to God, and it's not unspiritual for us To be concerned about His creation, about His world, and looking after it and caring for it, not unspiritual at all. If God commands it, and we believe He does, then it's part of our responsibility to obey. It's part of spiritual maturity to look after God's world. And doesn't Christ say in John 14, 15, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. If these are part of his commandments, to care for his world, to look after it, to be good stewards, then we're to obey. We'll have different opportunities, of course. For some, their responsibility for the natural world might be no more than a window box. It might be a garden. If it's for a farming congregation, it might be speaking to folk about the responsibility for the land, the animals that they're looking after. But we're to think again the Christian way, talking to a dairy farmer the other day. And he was commenting on how so many farmers treat their animals just like machines. Use them and get rid of them when they're done. Make sure the cows have as many calves as possible, maximize your milk yield, and then dispose of them when you're finished. And his approach as a Christian was so different. Look after your stock. Be careful with it. Treat it with respect. And that's thinking as a Christian in a very practical way. Whatever our calling, whatever our opportunities, we're to seek to think and behave as children of God. We're responsible to the Lord for obedience, maybe in a tiny little way, maybe in a bigger way. but we do all for the glory of God. Worship, delight, curiosity, thankfulness, and responsibility. It is part of our calling as disciples of Christ to care for the world that God has made and the world in which he's placed us and to do it as we do everything for his glory. The Word around us has given us all sorts of different messages that have no connection with Scripture, with God, with creation. We are counter-cultural and want to train our young folk, our students and others, especially to go into the world to think as Christians about the world, about the creation, about how they serve God wherever He places them. And may the Lord enable us to worship Him and delight in what His hands have made. It is a beautiful world despite the ravages of sin. As the Christian, you can enjoy it because our God made it.