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OF MONKEYS AND MEN #6
CAFFEINE FOR THE CREATOR
It seems so archaic to read some of the old sports
books that lie around our homes and offices, but we’ve gotten some great
sermon illustrations before from an ancient football story entitled Instant
Replay, by former Green Bay Packer great Jerry Kramer. He was part of
the glory years under Coach Vince Lombardi, and the team rolled to a Super
Bowl victory parade during the ‘66-‘67 season he describes in the book.
Some of you diehards may still remember a player named Max McGee, who
figured heavily in Lombardi’s plans that year. Six foot three, 210 pounds,
from Tulane, and he played a wide receiver. A confirmed bachelor who loved
to party, loved to speed late at night in fast cars with friendly women,
Max could still show up on Sunday and play brilliantly. And Kramer writes,
maybe with a bit of envy, that McGee just had so much natural ability,
nothing was hard. He would essentially coast along on about a quarter
of what he could really do, but if it was a really big game, say, against
Dallas or the Raiders – that was the Super Bowl victory – suddenly he
could reach down inside and come up with the huge play, the so-called
“highlight reel” stunner. And this was true in all sports, not just football.
If you played golf against McGee, he would take away your money. Ping-pong,
pool, whatever. It was just in him. Winning was hardly ever hard for him,
because he was so good.
As we go into a second week of radio studying here on the topic, OF MONKEYS
AND MEN, I think there’s a pleasant parallel to be found. Because whether
you’re a creationist or an avowed, Darwinian, survival-of-the-fittest
evolutionist . . . you’ve got to concede that we live in an amazing universe.
Just this planet is incredible enough – check that, one tree leaf in your
backyard is rather impressive, one caterpillar, one kid (maybe not your
neighbor’s!) But put in all the stars and planets and galaxies and Milky
Ways, and however it got to be here, it’s a piece of work.
With that in mind, let me tell you a Max McGee story, Part Two. A few
years ago, at an NRB convention – National Religious Broadcasters – I
was privileged to meet Pastor Adrian Rogers, former President of the Southern
Baptist Convention, and pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis.
We lucked out and got an autographed copy of his newest (at the time)
book, Believe in Miracles, But Trust in Jesus. He tells about a student
who came up to him one day. “Pastor Rogers,” he asked, “I’ve got a question.
Do you believe there’s life on other worlds?” Now, I don’t know what you
think about that . . . although the Bible doesn’t say. But Pastor Rogers
gave him an answer. “No,” he said. “I don’t think there is.” “What?” the
kid said. “You think all the life there is in the universe is right here
on earth?” “Uh huh.” And the kid shook his head. “No way,” he said. “How
can that be?” “What do you mean?” And the student launched into the same
kind of little spiel I just gave you, how there are just so many millions
and billions and trillions of planets and stars and galaxies and a billion
Milky Ways, all spanning light years with 20 zeroes after them. Etc. Etc.
You talk about “ID,” intelligent design, and this kid gave Pastor Rogers
quite a little Genesis 1 sermon. And then he said: “You mean to tell me
you think God went to all that trouble, and then just put life on one
tiny little world?” And Pastor Rogers said to him: “What trouble?”
Don’t you just love that answer? “What trouble?” Listen, friend, the Bible
tells us that when it comes to creation, God does great things . . . but
they’re not hard things. Not for Him. Notice with me what it says in Isaiah
40:26:
“Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created
these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by
name, by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power; not
one is missing.”
Jeremiah 32:17 tells us that God isn’t over-extending
Himself when He creates, violating OSHA requirements or earning time-and-a-half
putting in a lot of overtime. He didn’t need an extra-strength cappuccino
jolt late that first Friday afternoon. Listen to this:
“Ah, Sovereign Lord, You have made the heavens and
the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard
for You.”
Think about it. What makes a job hard for us? Physical
exertion – but God doesn’t have a problem with that. Long hours – but
our heavenly Father transcends time. Boredom – but running and maintaining
and protecting His entire universe, filled with beings He created and
loves is stimulating for the King of kings. The Bible tells us that nobody
ever teaches God or informs Him of something; He doesn’t have to consult
an owner’s manual before making something new.
By the way, let’s put up on the tote board that the First Law of Thermodynamics
– the conservation of matter – actually works in favor of the power of
God. Borrowing as we did last week from Chuck Colson’s recent book, How
Now Shall We Live?, we read this:
“Matter cannot just pop into existence or create itself.”
Normally, no, and some of us have wished term papers
would just materialize themselves out of thin air on our behalf. But friend,
material CAN pop into existence when God clears His throat and says, “Let
there be . . . a world.”
The Reader’s Digest had a nice little story a while back where the great
scientists with their gene-splicing lasers looked up at the sky and said,
“You know what, God? We don’t need You anymore. You say You’re the creator
of life; now we’ve caught up. You make people; we can do it too.” And
they went ahead and challenged God to a man-making competition, to be
televised live on ESPN.
And you know – God didn’t get angry. When we have questions or even when
we challenge Him, He patiently demonstrates His power and His plan. So
He said to the men in their lab coats: “All right. Let’s do it. I’ll make
a man out of dirt – again – and you do the same.” So the DNA experts immediately
rolled up their sleeves, and got down on their knees and began scooping
up some soil for their test tubes and their Petri dishes. And God very
gently but firmly said to them: “Just a minute, boys. Not so fast. Rule
#1: you get your own dirt.”
Well, that’s a cute story, but it really points to a fundamental divide
between two camps. Is it possible for a divine being to say the word and
have worlds leap into space? An evolutionary scientist says no; that’s
not possible. The Christian believes it is . . . and tries to carefully
understand the realm of science with that foundation in place. Can God
create a world in six days? If He wants to, yes. In six minutes or six
centuries if He wants to, but friend, I believe, and the Body of Christ
believes, that Jesus can heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the leper,
forgive sins, and, yes, say the words “Let there be light” . . . and there
will be light.
C. S. Lewis was once involved in a Q&A session with some students,
and they were considering the admitted truth that even many theologians
and religion professors seem to be living in the evolution camp these
days. (This was 40-50 years ago, you understand.) And he had a succinct
diagnosis for the dilemma:
“I find in these theologians,” he observed, “a constant
use of the principle that the miraculous does not occur.”
Simply does not. Healings – no. Resurrections – no.
Virgin birth – no. Red Sea dividing – no. Supernatural signs and wonders
– no. And of course, you taking that view, and the shredded, abbreviated
New Testament that it embraces, means that you certainly will not believe
in Genesis chapter one. You won’t think God made the world, because that
is obviously a miracle. But as Lewis concludes his thought, he adds:
“So far as I can see Christianity is precisely the
ONE religion from which the miraculous CANNOT be separated.”
Would you agree with that? Of course, none other than
the Apostle Paul confessed that the entire castle of Christianity rested
on the foundation of the miraculous Resurrection. Without the miracle
of new life following death, there is no such thing, he writes, as Christian
faith. And if we believe that a Babe in a manger, sent from heaven, conceived
miraculously of a virgin, resurrected miraculously on a Sunday morning,
ascended miraculously to heaven on a cloud . . . that this incarnate Christ
pre-existed with the Father in the very beginning, then we can and must
believe that Jesus Christ had the miraculous power to create all things,
set them in motion, keep and sustain them in motion, and rescue and redeem
them in the end. The miraculous element is the constant thread, the mighty
pillar of our faith and our eternal hope.
Friend, I’m thankful to have a Savior for whom creating is easy . . .
and redeeming is hard. But Jesus does both.
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