Created out of nothing.
A call to worship.
Themes
Creation • Creatio ex nihilo • An act of generosity • Intelligibility • Meaning • Coherence • Beauty • Harmony • Trinity • Redemption • New creation • Recreation
God did not need us; He wanted us. He was not lonely for us; He loved us.
Scripture reading
Acts 17:24–28 Colossians 1:15–17 2 Corinthians 5:17–21 Revelation 4:11
This call to worship1 is about having been created out of nothing. This comes from several things the great apostle Paul preached and wrote, as well as from what John the Disciple wrote.
The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth… He Himself gives everyone life. He Himself gives everyone breath. He Himself gives everyone everything else… For in Him we live. In Him we move. In Him we have our being. The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in Him, all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible… all things have been created through Him; all things have been created for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. If anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself… That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself… For our sake, He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will, they existed and were created.
Prayer
Absolutely sovereign, absolutely free, absolutely good God of heaven and of earth and of everything, we are here, right now, existing, breathing, thinking, because You freely and graciously, out of a love we cannot fathom, wanted us to be here. So, without any compulsion or constraint or need, and with personal intention and sheer generosity, with each of us in mind, You crafted this world and put us here, today, now, existing, breathing, thinking, with our hearts beating and our neurons firing and our DNA producing hundreds of thousands of different proteins. And yet, absolutely none of this was necessary. You did not need us; You wanted us. You were not lonely for us; You loved us. All of it is because You thought of us, and out of Your love for us, You took action for us. And here we are. Here. Now. Freely willed into existence by You. Not merely biological events; but each of us a creation of Yours, bearing Your image. It was an act of generosity, not necessity. And because it was never necessary for any of us to be here, and because nothing that is here is here on its own— nothing is self-originating, nothing is self-created— so, all of our being, all that we are, everything intelligible about us is intelligible —everything meaningful about us is meaningful— because it is created by You and it is given its coherence and its structure and its meaning by You —all of it— any coherence, any structure, any meaning is there in us because it pours forth from Your own internal, coherent, meaningful, intelligible, harmonious, ordered, loving self of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Because all of that meaning and harmony and order and love is true, there inside of you, God, so it is reflected here, in all that You created. All that You created is a reflection of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All that You created pours forth from You as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And only because our source —our Creator— is rational, relational, purposeful, beautiful, so, too, are we. And as Your creation was no less an act of love, so, too, is Your redemption. You brought the world —and us— out of nothing in Christ and through Christ and for Christ. And so You, too, are bringing forth a new creation in Christ. You are not a passive god somewhere up there, uninvolved, watching at a distance over some world that we happen to be in. Although, as creator, You are distinct from what You have created, You are nevertheless dynamically and intimately involved here, in this world, with us, in Your creation, not just at its origin, but in its reconciliation and recreation and renewal. Here. Now. The world is not stuck. We are not stuck. You are active in our lives. You are bringing about New Creation. All that is —our creation and our redemption— has been one unified act of Your love and grace, a singular unrelenting commitment to us. Sin and suffering do not have the final word. You created out of nothing. And so you can create out of brokenness. We are here because You willed it. We are sustained because You love us. We are redeemed because You are making all things new. We have hope because Your plan is unfolding. And that is astonishingly, breathtakingly beautiful. Amen.
1
This call to worship was given to the small assembly of Christians who gathered at Pathway Church, Beaverdam, Michigan, on Sunday, February 2, 2025.