U.S. Army Chaplain (MAJ) Ken Harris
Camp Walker, South Korea
BIG IDEA: AS GENUINE BORN-AGAIN BELIEVERS, with the status of new creation, WE receive permanent visits from God who CARES FOR US.
REFERENCES: Psalms 8:1-9; Genesis 1:1-2 (The creation of heaven and earth: In the beginning God created * the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.); Isaiah 40:28-29; Genesis 1:26 - Man supreme place at the climax of God’s creative work - (And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.); Proverbs 8:22-23,27 (… I was there from the beginning …); Matthew 21:16-19; Hebrews 11:12 ( … so many as the stars of the sky in multitude …); 2 Corinthians 5:17 (Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.); Galation 6:15 (For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. ); Psalms 144: 3-4 RSV (O Lord, what is man that thou dost regard him, or the son of man that thou dost think of him?);
I. ANNOUNCE THE PERICOPE: Psalms 8:1-6; 2 Corinthians 5:17
II. THE LARGER CONTEXT:
Now, before we begin, allow me to share with you some HISTORICAL TRUES regarding Psalms (or what is widely known in the theological community as THE PSALTER). For instance, in the Psalms we have a compilation of one hundred and fifty religious poems which makes it the l-o-n-g-e-s-t book in the Bible.
More specifically, the Psalter also divides easily into five different sections or books with each of the first four ending with a doxology (or a hymn of praise to God). For instance, Book 1 is Psalms 1 through Psalms 41 verse 13 is the doxology; Book 2 is Psalms 42 through Psalms 72 and verses 18-19 are the doxology. The fact of the matter is that all of the Psalms were compiled with a special purpose in mind. In fact, it has often been pointed out that the Psalters is the book of human emotions.
Because every emotion and experience of man’s heart is reflected in our Psalms.
For instance, if we’re fearful, we can read Psalm 91 or Psalm 23. If we’re happy and desire to express our happiness, read Psalm 92 or Psalm 66. If we feel forsaken, we can read Psalm 88. If we’re doubtful, because we sense that our faith is beginning to fail, we can read Psalm 119. Which says in part …
“ I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments. I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word (119:7-9) …
III. THE SMALLER CONTEXT:
Now, my brothers and sisters … most commentators recognized that the Psalter comprises of psalms of five different types:
Hymns, Laments of the Community, Royal Psalms, Individual Laments, and Individual Songs of Thanksgiving.
Therefore, … in our particular text, this afternoon, we find HYMNS of PRAISE. For King David designed this psalm … primarily for the choir members, and those that have a love and appreciation for music to sing praises to God …. during church services. For … the lyrics in this hymn reads: …
II. READ THE PERICOPE: Psalms 8:1-6 & 2 Corinthians 5:17
III. READ THE TEXT: Psalms 8:3-5 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars,which thou hast ordained; What is man,
that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor).
&
2 Corinthian 5:17: If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
IV. PURPOSE: To motivate the HEARERS to affirm to others that as God’s New Creation, we receive permanent visits from Him because He Cares for us.
V. SERMONIC THEME: “NEW CREATION”
VI. Proposition: … My brothers and sisters, … I submit to you this afternoon that God loves us SO MUCH … that He sent Jesus … to PERMANENTLY CARE for (or visit) His New Creation.
INTRODUCTION: … In my reading, I stumbled across an illustration by Reverend Doctor Jonathan Busch which I felt shared some insight about the “Creation “ itself … :
- God created the mule and told him: "You will be mule, working constantly from dusk to dawn, carrying heavy loads on your back. You will eat grass and you will lack intelligence. You will live for 50 years."
The mule answered: "To live like this for 50 years is too much. Please, give me no more than 20." And it was so.
- Then God created the dog and told him: "You will hold vigilance over the dwellings of Man, to whom you will be his greatest companion. You will eat his table scraps and live for 25 years."
- And the dog responded: "Lord, to live 25 years as a dog is too much. Please, no more than 10 years." And it was so.
- God then created the monkey and told him: "You are the monkey. You will swing from tree to tree, acting like an idiot. You will be funny, and you shall live for 20 years."
- And the monkey responded: Lord, to live 20 years as the clown of the world is too much. Please, Lord, give me no more than 10 years."
And it was so.
- Finally, God created Man and told him: "You are Man, the only rational being that walks the earth.
You will use your intelligence to have mastery over the creatures of the world. You will dominate the earth and live for 20 years."
-And the man responded: "Lord, to be Man for only 20 years is too little. Please, Lord, give me the 30 years the mule refused, the 15 years the dog refused, and the 10 years the monkey rejected."
And it was so.
- God made Man to live 20 years as a man, then marry and live 30 years like a mule working and carrying heavy loads on his back.
Then , he is to have children and live 15 years as a dog, guarding his house and eating leftovers after they empty the pantry, then, in his old age, to live 10 years as a monkey, acting like a fool to amuse his grandchildren. And it was so …
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Move 1: Now … my brothers and sisters … that’s JUST
ONE HUMOROUS ACCOUNT OF THE CREATION STORY
IN THE PAST.
a. BUT … SERIOUSLY … It has been said that to read the Bible is to know that creation does not remain in the past tense.
b. If the truth was told … it would be said … that our Hebrew brothers and sisters of the Old Testament believed that God’s purpose for life went on enlarging, expanding, and PROGRESSIVELY … I N C R E A S I N G.
c. Things, circumstances, and situations … get better. Weeping may endure for a night, but … joy! …cometh in the morning!!
d. For don’t you remember … It was Isaiah that said:
e. “Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faintheth not, neither is weary? … He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he I N C R E A S E T H strength (Isa. 40:28-29).
f. Turn to your neighbor and say … Neighbor … Oh Neighbor … God has creatively arranged to REMAKE … your healing, …. REMAKE … your deliverance, … to REMAKE ….your encouragement … AND REMAKE YOUR PRAISE!
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MOVE 2: Who can ever forget Matthew’s Account (in
Matthew 21:14-16) of Jesus Cleansing of the
Temple.
a. For don’t you remember … after Jesus had aggressively CAST OUT of God’s House of Prayer …
b. those that sold wine and animals … AND the MONEY CHANGERS …
c. He healed the BLIND AND CRIPPLED.
d. AFTERWARDS … the Bible tells us that it wasn’t the Priest (the expected ones) and the leaders in the Religious Community that CRYIED OUT in hallelujahs …to CHRIST …
e. But instead … it was (the unexpected ones) those that weren’t expected to FULLY understand and COMPREHEND what had just happened (in church) that COULDN’T STOP PRAISING HIM …
f. IT WAS THE TRINTIY’S (new-born)
g. The NORMAN ISAIAH’S, GAB-BRIE-EL-S, AND ISAIAH BUXTON’S ( 18-24 months that praised him)…
h. IT WAS THE KENDRICS AND CHRISTIANS (6 years old)… THE JAMIES, SAMANJE’s AND SUMMERS … (8 to 11 years old)
i. THE ASHLEY AND PARIS’ …. (11 to 14 years old) ... OF THE CHURCH … THAT CREATIVELY GAVE STOPPED WHAT THEY WERE DOING … (feeding and nursing, …) AND GOD SOME … P-R-A-I-S-E!
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MOVE 3: THE BIBLE TELLS US THAT WHEN THE CHIEF
PRIESTS AND SCRIBES SAW THE MIRACLES AND
HEARD THE CHILDREN PRAISING JESUS … THEY
INDIGNANTLY SAID TO HIM … DO YOU HEAR WHAT
THESE CHILDREN ARE SAYING?“
a. AND … JESUS SAID … YES … and quoted Psalms 8:2 ….
b. For He said … have you not read: “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast brought perfect praise?”
c. PERFECT PRAISE! ….
d. STILL … Someone will inevitably MAKE THE STATEMENT … In 2003 … God was better to me than I was to myself ….
e AND … HOW IS HIS CONTINUING CREATIVITY GOING TO BE EXPRESSED IN 2004?
f. Well … My brothers and sisters … this question can easily be answered this afternoon … by EXAMINING OUR TEXT, and hymn in Psalms 8,
g. … and LETTING our FINGERS DO THE WALKING THROUGH THE BIBLICAL PAGES OF … GENESIS.
h. FOR … ITS IN THAT COURSE … THAT WE’RE TAUGHT THAT … GOD RAISES UP new FOLK.
i. AND ITS IN GENESIS THAT … WE learned that Out of a group of ordinary brothers emerges Joseph;
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MOVE 4: Still later … we were taught that When
Israel was in bondage,Moses came to lead the
Exodus.
a. When Moses was old, came Joshua; and after him, in hours of crisis, the long line of men of destiny, Gideon and Jephthah, …
b. Samuel and Saul, …
c. … Jonathan and THE SWEET HYMN … SINGING OF David – OUR AUTHOR
d. All of these are examples of the way God creates something different out of what had seemed to be of a fixed mold.
e. Added to those are the uncounted instances, familiar to every generation, of persons who at first seemed altogether ordinary,
f. but who by steady obedience to the moving of the Spirit became great servants of God.
g. To those who of themselves would have had no might, he
I N C R E A S E D strength.
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MOVE 5: The appearance of the right man (or woman)
at the critical time is often like a
miracle.
a. For NO LAW OF AVERAGES PRODUCES HIM.
b. No characteristics of the crowd show what he is to be.
c. THE QUALITIES HE BRINGS MAY BE UNIQUE.
d. He is like a fresh gift from the hands of God.
e. Still … God creativity is not only in raising up the new man.
f. It is in taking a man who is already there and making him over so that he’s new.
g. This implies an inner change which is equivalent to a new creation.
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MOVE 6: The new creation is not merely improved, or
reformed, or altered in any way which
implies no more than an external change, but
he is remade.
a. He is different even from what he was at his best.
b. The change is radical; it goes to the roots of his being.
c. The old has passed away … the new has come.
d. The Apostle Paul says it best in 2 Corinthian 5:17:
e. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
f. My brothers and sisters … the essential difference is an inner change is that our thoughts and ambitions are no longer focused on ourselves,
g. …but on Christ and on the interests of others.
h. It’s what I call the JOY ACROYMN – Jesus First; Others Second; and Yourself last.
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MOVE 7: As result, we become more dependent on the providence of God. Money, pleasure, and position cease to have the old attraction for us.
a. On the other hand, love, duty, brotherhood, service, which may have counted for little in our big scheme of things before,
b. … now … become important and attractive.
c. Likewise … In our text this afternoon … David feels like man is the acme (or the highest point) of God’s creation, and the master of the Animal Kingdom (Gen. 1:28).
d. Yet, at the same time, as a man himself …
e. Which understands his own frailties and weaknesses, …
f. And all the mistakes that he has already made as a youth ….
g. expresses … in this HYMN of PRAISE … an element of surprise that God
h. … the Creator of the Universe … the Heavens and the Earth … thinks so highly of man … that He permanently VISITS and CARES for Him …
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CELEBRATION:
DAVID SINGS … “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! Who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger…
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou VISITEST HIM (CARE FOR HIM) …
