Subject; How does Father God regard his children?
Complement: he can’t take his mind off of us!
Big idea: the most important person in all the universe is each of us.
Sticky Big Idea: God loves each of us as if we were his only child.
In 2002 Richard Van Phram (62) (Viet Nam immigrant)… decided to sail a 22 mile course to Catalina island.
He encountered a storm…
His sailboat encountered a storm off LA…broken mast… motor failed…radio failed.
He was lost at sea for 4 months – no one (!) reported him missing!!!
Finally, the navy found him off the coast of Costa Rica.
Transition...
Q. have you ever felt alone in the world?
Do you know that … {Big idea ;} God loves you (each of us) as if we were his only child!
Sometimes when we can’t fit in to a group… we feel all alone…
The teen years are probably the toughest…
Story --- (Lonely) Seniors -- Dr R. – a good chat is better than a vacation…
I wonder sometimes does Christianity contribute to low view of self??
(1) too low a view – “such a worm as I” (Christianity may contribute to this!)
(2) too high a view (arrogance…pride…narcissism)
…. Big idea ; God loves each of us as if we were his only child!
Psalm 139 Of David.
(1-6) Stanza I : *** God… I’m an open book to you!
I praise you O God that you know me and watch over me!
1 You have searched me, Lord and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
*** God… I’m an open book to you!
Kinds Of God (Concepts Of…)
1. Pantheism (God Is Everything And We Are Divine Too – Leads To Self-Worship)
2. Polytheism (Hundreds Of Gods…Appease And Manipulate?)
3. Deism (Watchmaker)
4. Covenant Keeping God – “I AM” …God Of Abraham…Isaac And Jacob…)
4. Incarnational God (Made His Dwelling Among Us… Abides By The HS…Coming To Take Us Home)
Yes… {Big idea} ; God loves each of us as if we were his only child!
(7-12) Stanza II: God… You Never Let Me Out Of Your Sight!
O God I Praise You For Your Presence – You Are Ever Present.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
As God pursues us…. We often run away…hiding…rebelling from God)
Roy M. story --- away from God for 22 years…
Yes… Big idea ; God loves each of us as if we were his only child!
*** Sometimes it's hard to believe God is still present…
Prayers seem to go unanswered…
In his book simply called “NIGHT” – by E Wiesel …. He tells this story…
In the spring of 1944, the Nazis occupy Hungary.
A series of increasingly repressive measures are passed, and the Jews of Eliezer’s town are forced into small ghettos.
Before long, they are rounded up and shipped out to the death camps of Burkenau, and Auschwitz. …
In one especially gripping scene, the book describes the execution of three Jews, among whom is a young child.
“ One day, as we returned from work, …The SS surrounding us, machine guns aimed at us: the usual ritual. Three prisoners in chains – and, among them, the little pipel, the sad-eyed angel.
The SS seemed more preoccupied, more worried, than usual. To hang a child in front of thousands of onlookers was not a small matter. The head of the camp read the verdict. All eyes were on the child. He was pale, almost calm, but he was biting his lips as he stood in the shadow of the gallows.
The three condemned prisoners together stepped onto the chairs. In unison, the nooses were placed around their necks.
“Long live liberty!” shouted the two men.
But the boy was silent.
“Where is merciful God, where is He?” someone behind me was asking.
And from within me, I heard a voice answer:
“Where is He? This is where – hanging here from this gallows…”
E Wiesel himself struggled to ever believe in God again…
But the Bible tells us He is the suffering God –
who suffers with us—he doesn’t override all suffering in this life… he enters into our suffering –
**this is seen most clearly on the cross of Christ.
Suffering and all tragedy will however be eliminated at the end of the age – “no more” says the book of revelation!
***Many xians struggle with the concept of suffering – our faith must be ready for suffering and tragedy… if our discipleship doesn’t teach us to endure suffering what good is it?
… remember church (Big idea) ; God loves each of us as if we were his only child!
(13-18) Stanza III: God., Your Fingerprints Are All Over Me!
O God, I Praise You For Being God My Creator And Father.
13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
(Hebrew – “I am fearfully wonderful”)
*** Tell Mom this the next time you’re in trouble…***
15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
Abortion debate…is ongoing…
• Movie – Unplanned ***
• Movies and science may now achieve what govt legislation has failed to do. – change the hearts of people.
**Post-birth abortion is being talked about among academics as an ethical matter. (even when child isn’t disabled…)//
“Journal of Medical Ethics” Vol 39; Issue 5
**Already legal in Netherlands.***
(Application point) ? If you compare yourself to someone else 1 of 2 things will likely happen:
(1) pride – I’m better than you
(2) jealousy – your better than me! (creating insecurity)
Allow God truth to speak to you (Ps 139) – louder than all these other voices.
…Big idea ; God loves each of us as if we were his only child!
(19) Stanza IV: God - only you can fix what’s broken in the world!
…FIX what is broken… (cry for holiness – as God is holy)
19 If only you, God, would slay the wicked! Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
20 They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.
*** Romans 8:18-27
Creation itself is groaning – awaiting it's liberation from bondage and decay!
(23-24) Concluding couplet: God…I surrender me “SELF” to you!
I trust you completely O God – I invite you in…
23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Notice the transparency in this “I-thou” relationship!
PRAYER:
*** God… I want you to shape me… make me all that you intend…
GOSPEL ?
what we read in psalm 139 – “God’s love and care and plan…
…finds expression (1) on the cross and (2) at Pentecost (HS) and (3) in the 2nd coming (when evil is finally overcome)…
Application? “ you know” – 7 x in this poem
Big idea ; God loves each of us as if we were his only child!
(1) leads us to worship and relationship
(2) Out of a sense of identity and belonging comes peace and courage!
(3) We can now serve God with gratitude and without fear of failure – because our identity isn’t found in our performance but in God.
Psalm 139 is a love song … David is writing about God’s great love….for him…for you!
Big idea ; God loves each of us as if we were his only child!
CONCLUSION…
Who Am I? a poem by D. Bonhoeffer - written while awaiting execution in a Nazi prison.
Who am I?
They often tell me,
I come out of my cell
Calmly, cheerfully, resolutely,
Like a lord from his palace.
Who am I?
They often tell me,
I used to speak to my warders
Freely and friendly and clearly,
As though it were mine to command.
Who am I?
They also tell me,
I carried the days of misfortune
Equably, smilingly, proudly,
like one who is used to winning.
Am I really then what others say of me?
Or am I only what I know of myself?
Restless, melancholic, and ill, like a caged bird,
Struggling for breath, as if hands clasped my throat,
Hungry for colors, for flowers, for the songs of birds,
Thirsty for friendly words and human kindness,
Shaking with anger at fate and at the smallest sickness,
Trembling for friends at an infinite distance,
Tired and empty at praying, at thinking, at doing,
Drained and ready to say goodbye to it all.
Who am I? This or the other?
Am I one person today and another tomorrow?
Am I both at once?
In front of others, a hypocrite,
And to myself a contemptible, fretting weakling?
Or is something still in me like a battered army,
running in disorder from a victory already achieved?
Who am I? These lonely questions mock me.
Whoever I am, You know me, I am yours, O God.
