{"id":3888,"date":"2022-03-06T09:45:33","date_gmt":"2022-03-06T08:45:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sermons.seetal-chile.ch\/?post_type=wpfc_sermon&p=3888"},"modified":"2023-01-07T12:12:14","modified_gmt":"2023-01-07T11:12:14","slug":"der-vater-der-schoepfung","status":"publish","type":"wpfc_sermon","link":"https:\/\/sermons.seetal-chile.ch\/en\/sermons\/der-vater-der-schoepfung\/","title":{"rendered":"The Father of Creation"},"content":{"rendered":"

God is often addres\u00adsed as YHWH<\/span> in the Old Tes\u00adta\u00adment. This name is so sacred to the Jews that they do not pro\u00adno\u00adun\u00adce it. It is pre\u00adcis\u00ade\u00adly this God who also crea\u00adted the earth. We want to trace the one who says \u00abI am who I always am\u00bb (Exodus 3:14) and ask what this being means for my exis\u00adtence. Fol\u00adlo\u00adwers of Jesus Christ are allo\u00adwed to par\u00adti\u00adci\u00adpa\u00adte in this being, becau\u00adse through his \u00abI am\u00bb words he ties in direct\u00adly the\u00adre. Through this, I am allo\u00adwed to be in the one who says, \u00abI am\u00bb.<\/p>\n

With today\u2019s ser\u00admon, some\u00adthing will chan\u00adge fun\u00adda\u00admen\u00adtal\u00adly. As some of you have noti\u00adced, my wife and I are expec\u00adting our first child. This is a very joyful event for us and so, for bet\u00adter or worse, in the future I will be one of tho\u00adse pas\u00adtors who always refer back to their child\u00adren for prac\u00adti\u00adcal examp\u00adles. I would like to apo\u00adlo\u00adgi\u00adse here for the next 100 ser\u00admons and hope that you will for\u00adgi\u00adve me for this.
\nAlt\u00adhough our son\u2019s due date is not until mid-June, we, or rather my wife, are alre\u00ada\u00addy ful\u00adly occu\u00adp\u00adied with the pre\u00adpa\u00adra\u00adti\u00adons. The\u00adre is new fur\u00adni\u00adtu\u00adre to buy, clo\u00adthes to orga\u00adni\u00adse and a few walls to paint. But the most important, most beau\u00adtiful but also most chal\u00adlen\u00adging task for me is to find a name for our child. Pre\u00advious\u00adly I had to find names for our cats with my sis\u00adters, but this is a com\u00adple\u00adte\u00adly dif\u00adfe\u00adrent sto\u00adry. The name will be with the child for the rest of its life. The\u00adr\u00ade\u00adfo\u00adre it should sound nice, but at the same time not be too 08<\/sup>\u204415<\/sub>. It should be a litt\u00adle unu\u00adsu\u00adal, but it would still be prac\u00adti\u00adcal if the grand\u00adpar\u00adents could pro\u00adno\u00adun\u00adce it wit\u00adhout mista\u00adkes. In the begin\u00adning we had many dif\u00adfe\u00adrent names, but now it is slow\u00adly nar\u00adro\u00adwing down. We are noti\u00adcing more and more that two things are important to us in a name. On the one hand, we have to like the name. Second\u00adly, it should have a good mea\u00adning. Most names have a mea\u00adning and it would be nice if you could give the child some\u00adthing to take with it.
\nIn the Bible, names have a deeper mea\u00adning. Yes, they say some\u00adthing about a per\u00adson, a place or an object. A name is not just a label, it also says a lot about the con\u00adtent. This year we are deal\u00ading with the annu\u00adal the\u00adme Crea\u00adtio \u2013 Hope and Respon\u00adsi\u00adbi\u00adli\u00adty. So far, we have been very much con\u00adcer\u00adned with God\u2019s good crea\u00adti\u00adon. God appears as Holy Spi\u00adrit, Son and Father. In the two pre\u00advious ser\u00admons we dealt with the Holy Spi\u00adrit and Jesus Christ. Today we want to turn to the Father. Yes, it should be about the Father of crea\u00adti\u00adon, it should be about the one of whom it is said \u00abIn the begin\u00adning God crea\u00adted the hea\u00advens and the earth\u00bb (Gene\u00adsis 1:1). We want to ask our\u00adsel\u00adves who this God is and what his Hebrew name has to say to us.
\n1. the name of God
\nEvery name has its firm jus\u00adti\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adti\u00adon in Hebrew thought. Sin\u00adce a name is not only about addres\u00adsing, no name is cho\u00adsen at ran\u00addom. The name of the first man, for exam\u00adp\u00adle, has two mea\u00adnings. On the one hand, Adam is the Ger\u00adman pro\u00adper name for the first man, but on the other hand Adam sim\u00adply means \u00abman\u00bb. Eve, on the other hand, means \u00abthe life-giving one\u00bb.
\nIn crea\u00adti\u00adon, God is descri\u00adbed with two Hebrew words. One is Elo\u00adhim in Gene\u00adsis 1:1\u20132:3. On the other hand, in Gene\u00adsis 2:4\u201325 it is YHWH<\/span> in con\u00adnec\u00adtion with Elo\u00adhim. Both names mean God, but place a dif\u00adfe\u00adrent empha\u00adsis. Elo\u00adhim is a plu\u00adral, but is always trans\u00adla\u00adted as God in the sin\u00adgu\u00adlar. This is cal\u00adled the plu\u00adra\u00adlis maje\u00ads\u00adta\u00adtis. The\u00adre are seve\u00adral theo\u00adries as to why God is writ\u00adten in the plu\u00adral. A very old the\u00adsis, which I per\u00adso\u00adnal\u00adly like very much, sug\u00adgests that the Three Per\u00adsons of God are indi\u00adca\u00adted in it. Name\u00adly, that God con\u00adsists of Father, Son and Holy Spi\u00adrit. YHWH<\/span>, on the other hand, stands much more for the Father and is trans\u00adla\u00adted as LORD<\/span> in Ger\u00adman. This is also the much more com\u00admon name of God in the Old Tes\u00adta\u00adment. It occurs over 6700 times, while Elo\u00adhim is men\u00adtio\u00adned just under 2500 times.
\nToday I would like to focus on the name of God, YHWH<\/span>. What is spe\u00adcial about this name is that its ori\u00adgi\u00adnal pro\u00adnun\u00adcia\u00adti\u00adon is obscu\u00adre. This is becau\u00adse the name was so sacred to the Jews that they did not pro\u00adno\u00adun\u00adce it. The\u00adr\u00ade\u00adfo\u00adre, today we often speak of YHWH<\/span>. This in turn has its ori\u00adg\u00adins in the Hebrew script. For a very long time, the Hebrew script did not know vowels, only con\u00adso\u00adnants were writ\u00adten. For nati\u00adve spea\u00adk\u00aders, this does not mat\u00adter, sin\u00adce the gram\u00adma\u00adti\u00adcal form and the word its\u00adelf ari\u00adse in the con\u00adtext. The\u00adr\u00ade\u00adfo\u00adre, vowels were dis\u00adpen\u00adsed with in the Hebrew script. This also makes the text much shorter, which saves an enorm\u00adous amount of time and space when ever\u00ady\u00adthing has to be writ\u00adten by hand.
\nFrom the 7th cen\u00adtu\u00adry AD<\/span>, the chall\u00adenge aro\u00adse that more and more peo\u00adp\u00adle no lon\u00adger had Hebrew as their mother ton\u00adgue. The\u00adre was a group of Jewish scho\u00adlars, the Maso\u00adre\u00adtes, who took it upon them\u00adsel\u00adves to add vowels to the Hebrew text so that it would still be acces\u00adsi\u00adble to future gene\u00adra\u00adti\u00adons. But sin\u00adce they did not want to chan\u00adge the Word of God, they wro\u00adte the vowels in with the con\u00adso\u00adnants. And here comes the crunch when it comes to the pro\u00adper name of God, YHWH<\/span>. For the Jews had such gre\u00adat respect and, alt\u00adhough it says YHWH<\/span>, they read Adon\u00adaj, which means my Lord. The\u00adr\u00ade\u00adfo\u00adre, much is uncer\u00adtain about the mea\u00adning and pro\u00adnun\u00adcia\u00adti\u00adon of the name. Most cir\u00adcum\u00adstan\u00adti\u00adal evi\u00addence sug\u00adgests that it was pro\u00adno\u00adun\u00adced Yahweh.
\nThis fasci\u00adna\u00adtes me extre\u00adme\u00adly. We humans would like to know ever\u00ady\u00adthing down to the very last detail. But with crea\u00adti\u00adon we come to a point whe\u00adre it does\u00adn\u2019t go back any fur\u00adther. At some point we are back at \u00abin the begin\u00adning God crea\u00adted\u2026\u00bb. It starts with him, but not with him. The\u00adr\u00ade\u00adfo\u00adre, he deser\u00adves extre\u00adme respect as the crea\u00adtor of the earth.
\n2. the self-reve\u00adla\u00adti\u00adon of the Father
\nUnfort\u00adu\u00adna\u00adte\u00adly, the mea\u00adning of the name YHWH<\/span> can\u00adnot be deter\u00admi\u00adned exact\u00adly. Howe\u00adver, it can be said who this God is. For YHWH<\/span> has reve\u00ada\u00adled hims\u00adelf. The first book of the Bible descri\u00adbes on the one hand the begin\u00adning of the world and of huma\u00adni\u00adty, and on the other hand it descri\u00adbes the histo\u00adry of God with a spe\u00adci\u00adfic peo\u00adp\u00adle. In the pro\u00adcess, God cho\u00adse the peo\u00adp\u00adle of Isra\u00adel. Some time after this elec\u00adtion, this peo\u00adp\u00adle sett\u00adled in Egypt. So that they would not beco\u00adme a dan\u00adger, the Pha\u00adraoh of Egypt had them work for him as slaves. The peo\u00adp\u00adle had to suf\u00adfer so much that God took pity on them and sent Moses to save them. When Moses was cal\u00adled for this uni\u00adma\u00adgi\u00adn\u00adab\u00adly dif\u00adfi\u00adcult task, he asked God what he should say when asked who had sent him. \u00abGod repli\u00aded, \u00abI am who I always am\u00bb. Just tell them, \u00abI am\u00bb has sent me to you\u00bb (Exodus 3:14 NLB<\/span>). The Luther Bible trans\u00adla\u00adtes as \u00abI will be who I will be\u00bb. Both are in the Hebrew. God is always the same, he does not chan\u00adge (James 1:17).
\nGod is the epi\u00adto\u00adme of being. He is always being in the truest sen\u00adse of the word. Being has its ful\u00adcrum in him. Out\u00adside of God the\u00adre is no being. Through his Word, God has cal\u00adled ever\u00ady\u00adthing into being, sin\u00adce all being has its anchor point in God\u2019s being. But when it comes to gras\u00adping God in his essence, it must be said that our gras\u00adping always only depicts a par\u00adti\u00adal aspect. For it can be said of the church father Augus\u00adti\u00adne: \u00abIf you have com\u00adpre\u00adhen\u00added it, then it is not God\u00bb (Augus\u00adti\u00adne of Hippo).
\nMany peo\u00adp\u00adle still find it dif\u00adfi\u00adcult in this enligh\u00adten\u00aded age to belie\u00adve in a God, let alo\u00adne that a God crea\u00adted and lovin\u00adg\u00adly sus\u00adta\u00adins this who\u00adle world. Tho\u00admas Aqui\u00adnas, a theo\u00adlo\u00adgi\u00adan from the Midd\u00adle Ages, deve\u00adlo\u00adped various pro\u00adofs of God. It should be said at the out\u00adset that the\u00adse do not pro\u00adve the God who pres\u00adents hims\u00adelf as \u00abI am who I always am\u00bb. But they do sug\u00adgest that the\u00adre must be some\u00adthing out\u00adside our time and space.
\nOne such pro\u00adof is the pro\u00adof of cau\u00adsa\u00adli\u00adty. This sta\u00adtes that the\u00adre are cau\u00adses and effects ever\u00ady\u00adwhe\u00adre in the world that are con\u00adnec\u00adted with each other (pre\u00admi\u00adse). Every effect pre\u00adsup\u00adpo\u00adses a suf\u00adfi\u00adci\u00adent cau\u00adse, which is decisi\u00adve for the effect (axi\u00adom). An effect always has a cau\u00adse, this cau\u00adse can in turn be an effect of ano\u00adther cau\u00adse. But at some point the ques\u00adti\u00adon of the first cau\u00adse ari\u00adses. This first cau\u00adse of effect is its\u00adelf uncau\u00adsed, thus has no cau\u00adse its\u00adelf (con\u00adclu\u00adsi\u00adon). In rela\u00adti\u00adon to crea\u00adti\u00adon, this means that many things can be dedu\u00adced from each other, but in the begin\u00adning the\u00adre was God. The Father of Crea\u00adti\u00adon, who is the first acti\u00adve cau\u00adse. He is the exis\u00adtence which is the cau\u00adse of the exis\u00adtence of the earth. Yes this \u00abI am\u00bb claims for hims\u00adelf that he is also the ori\u00adgi\u00adna\u00adtor of hea\u00adven and earth. Moreo\u00adver, he is not sim\u00adply one among many gods, but he is the God who exists. His most pri\u00admal attri\u00adbu\u00adte is being. \u00abThis says the Lord who crea\u00adted the hea\u00advens, who is God, who for\u00admed and made the earth. He has foun\u00added it. Not as a desert did he crea\u00adte it, but to inha\u00adbit. \u00abI am the Lord,\u00bb he says, \u00abthe\u00adre is no other\u00bb \u00bb (Isai\u00adah 45:18 NLB<\/span>).
\nThe \u00abI am\u00bb of the Father as the start\u00ading point for your being.
\nAs God\u2019s crea\u00adtures, our exis\u00adtence as human beings also has its basis in God\u2019s being. You may be becau\u00adse he is. In the \u00abI am\u00bb and in the name lies the con\u00adnec\u00adtion bet\u00adween God, the Father of crea\u00adti\u00adon, and Jesus Christ, the Son. For Jesus means YHWH<\/span> saves, so a con\u00adnec\u00adtion is alre\u00ada\u00addy obvious in the name. But it is also found in the life and actions of Jesus Christ. In the New Tes\u00adta\u00adment, Jesus often makes the state\u00adment \u00abI am\u00bb. In John\u2019s Gos\u00adpel he con\u00adnects this with bread, door, she\u00adp\u00adherd, way, vine, light, truth, resur\u00adrec\u00adtion and life. By refer\u00adring the\u00adse terms to hims\u00adelf, Jeus claims and shows that he is God.
\nLet us take a clo\u00adser look at two \u00abI am\u00bb state\u00adments. \u00abI am the light of the world. Whoe\u00adver fol\u00adlows me need not wan\u00adder in dark\u00adness, for he will have the light that leads to life\u00bb (John 8:12 NLB<\/span>). In Gene\u00adsis 1:3, God crea\u00adted the light for this world. Here Jesus claims to be that light in a much broa\u00adder sen\u00adse. Just as the light shows us the way and helps us to find our way, Jesus also helps us as light. It shows us the way to God. By his life we can see how we are to live. When we obser\u00adve his life in the Bible, we see how peo\u00adp\u00adle could come to God through Jesus.
\nWhile this first \u00abI am\u00bb may seem rather abs\u00adtract, the next is much more abso\u00adlu\u00adte in its state\u00adment. \u00abI am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me\u00bb (John 14:6 NLB<\/span>). After God had won\u00adderful\u00adly crea\u00adted the earth, he pla\u00adced Adam and Eve in the Gar\u00adden of Eden. In the midd\u00adle of the gar\u00adden he plan\u00adted two trees. The tree of life and the one of the know\u00adledge of good and evil. They were allo\u00adwed to use ever\u00ady\u00adthing in the gar\u00adden, except they were not allo\u00adwed to eat from the tree of the know\u00adledge of good and evil. This tree would enable them to distin\u00adgu\u00adish bet\u00adween good and evil. It would give peo\u00adp\u00adle the oppor\u00adtu\u00adni\u00adty to deci\u00adde for them\u00adsel\u00adves what they con\u00adside\u00adred to be true or fal\u00adse. It went well for a while, but the people\u2019s curio\u00adsi\u00adty final\u00adly won out. In doing so, they show\u00aded that they dis\u00adtrus\u00adted God. As a con\u00adse\u00adquence, they had to lea\u00adve the gar\u00adden. So the peo\u00adp\u00adle lost their posi\u00adti\u00adon in the gar\u00adden, but what was even more dra\u00adstic, they lost direct access to God. Yes, God pla\u00adced an angel in Eden so that the peo\u00adp\u00adle would not reach the tree of life. Through their rebel\u00adli\u00adon, the peo\u00adp\u00adle not only cut off the direct path to God, but also the path to life.
\nSo when Jesus says that he is the way, the truth and the life, he makes it clear that he can and will res\u00adto\u00adre the rela\u00adti\u00adonship with God that has gone to pie\u00adces. He hims\u00adelf is the way on which we can walk. We do not have to walk alo\u00adne, but we may cling to him. Yes, Jesus not only has the truth, he is it in per\u00adson. Jesus gives you life by lay\u00ading down His life to die for the trans\u00adgres\u00adsi\u00adons of men. Jesus Christ and His Father YHWH<\/span> are inte\u00adres\u00adted in you. God wants you as you are. He does not want your reli\u00adgious or earth\u00adly per\u00adfor\u00admance, but you.
\nHow do you respond? Are you rea\u00addy, per\u00adhaps for the first time or again, to con\u00adscious\u00adly place your life in his hands and trust him? I want to pro\u00admi\u00adse you that you can be, becau\u00adse God is being in person.
\nPos\u00adsi\u00adble ques\u00adti\u00adons for the small group
\nRead Bible text: Exodus 3:14; John 14:6<\/p>\n

\tNames have mea\u00adning. Do you know what your name means? Have you been allo\u00adwed to name someone? What did you pay atten\u00adti\u00adon to?
\n\tWhen you pray to God, how do you address Him? Why do you use that name?
\n\tHow do you under\u00adstand God\u2019s state\u00adment in Exodus 3:14 \u00abI am who I always am\u00bb? What does this self-desi\u00adgna\u00adti\u00adon of God say about him?
\n\tCan you under\u00adstand Tho\u00admas Aqui\u00adnas\u00bb pro\u00adof of cau\u00adsa\u00adli\u00adty? Can you agree with it? If not, whe\u00adre do you have a dif\u00adfe\u00adrent opinion?
\n\tWhich of Jesus\u00bb words \u00abI am\u00bb do you know? Whe\u00adre in the Old Tes\u00adta\u00adment does Jesus pick up on this and what does this cla\u00adim of Jesus mean for you personally?
\n\tHow do you respond to Jesus\u00bb state\u00adment in John 14:6 \u00abI am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me\u00bb?<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

God is often addres\u00adsed as YHWH<\/span> in the Old Tes\u00adta\u00adment. This name is so sacred to the Jews that they do not pro\u00adno\u00adun\u00adce it. It is pre\u00adcis\u00ade\u00adly this God who also crea\u00adted the earth. We want to trace the one who says \u00abI am who I always am\u00bb (Exodus 3:14) and ask what this being means for\u2026<\/p>","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":7033,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","wpfc_preacher":[79],"wpfc_sermon_series":[81],"wpfc_sermon_topics":[],"wpfc_bible_book":[],"wpfc_service_type":[12],"class_list":{"0":"wpfc_preacher-cedric-bruegger","1":"wpfc_sermon_series-creatio","2":"wpfc-sermon-single","3":"post-3888","4":"wpfc_sermon","5":"type-wpfc_sermon","6":"status-publish","7":"has-post-thumbnail","8":"hentry","11":"wpfc_service_type-gottesdienst"},"acf":[],"sermons_blog_filters_topics":"\t\t\t\t

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