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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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