Looking Beyond the Created World to the Creator
The created world is a gift from God and should be prized for its usefulness, loved for its beauty, and esteemed as a gift to His children.
A.W. Tozer emphasizes the importance of recognizing the Creator behind the beauty of the created world, contrasting the worship of nature seen in pagan cultures with the Christian perspective that values nature as a gift from God. He argues that while the unregenerate may idolize nature, enlightened Christians can appreciate and love the beauty of creation as a reflection of God's glory. Tozer encourages believers to enjoy the natural world not for its own sake, but as a means to honor and love God more deeply, aligning with the sentiments expressed in the psalms and the prophets.
Text
To persons brought up in the Judaeo-Christian tradition the thought that anyone should actually worship nature seems absurd, but we have only to step across into almost any of the cultures we call pagan to learn that such worship has been and still is common enough. Indeed there is scarcely a natural object anywhere that has not been worshiped by someone.
The created world is to be prized for its usefulness, loved for its beauty and esteemed as the gift of God to His children. Love of natural beauty which has been the source of so much pure music, poetry and art is a good and desirable thing.
Though the unregenerate soul is likely to enjoy nature for its own sake and ignore the God whose gift it is, there is nothing to prevent an enlightened Christian who loves God supremely from loving all things for God's dear sake. This would appear to be altogether in accord with the spirit of the psalms and the prophets, and though there is less emphasis upon nature in the New Testament much appreciation of natural things may be found there also.
Sermon Outline
- The Created World and Worship
- Worship of nature in pagan cultures
- The created world as a gift from God
Key Quotes
“The created world is to be prized for its usefulness, loved for its beauty and esteemed as the gift of God to His children.” — A.W. Tozer
Application Points
- As a Christian, you can love and appreciate nature without worshiping it, as long as you do it for God's sake.
- The created world is a gift from God, and we should esteem it as such.
- Love of natural beauty can be a source of inspiration for music, poetry, and art.