God Is the Author of Life - Psalm 139:13-16 - Let's Be Clear

Morning.

How we all doing? Hey, the rest of that story, you're gonna want to be sticking around for the next sermon series because you're gonna get to see the rest of that story. So let me just begin by saying my name is Jason Azzarello. For those of you I haven't met, I'm the campus pastor here.

So real quickly, I want to do this because we'll never do this again. Regional, I want you to meet Regional North. Yeah. Now you know what you get when you put Regional and Regional North together?

The Ridge. Alright, so hey we're so excited to be able to have this first service here, practice service, but man it's a real service whenever you sing worship to the Lord and whenever you give and whenever you're opening up the Word of God. So we're gonna do that today. If you have a copy of Scripture, go ahead and open it up to Psalm 139.

Psalm 139, as Pastor Andrew mentioned just a few moments ago, we're kind of wrapping up the sermon series today. Let's be clear. And really what the sermon series has kind of come off of this idea that there's no longer such a thing as a non-controversial Christian. Okay, maybe at one day in time there was enough overlap in the culture to where you can kind of get away with being a Christian who kind of just stood in the background and it's like you kind of believed kind of roughly what everybody else believed. And you all know this, that is no longer the case, right?

That's no longer the case. There's no such thing as a non-controversial Christian. So when we come up against things in the culture that seem to go clearly in the other direction of what the Scriptures clearly teach, what do we do? Well I want to start off by saying I think that there's two things that we absolutely cannot do and then I'll follow it up with one thing that I think we we must do. So the first thing is that we cannot, as Christians, we cannot assimilate to the culture, right? We can't be the type of people who see what the Bible clearly teaches and then because it's rejected or resisted in the culture we actually change it so that it's a little bit more easy for the culture to digest. We can't do that. We cannot assimilate into the culture. But we also cannot abandon the culture. We cannot be the type of people who sort of, in a callous way, sort of say well hey this is a culture that's rejecting the truth. I mean I guess it's their funeral.

I mean oh well, sort of like no big deal. I know what I believe and I know that I'm good with God. We can't do that. We can't be the type of people who assimilate nor can we be the type of people who abandon the culture. Instead the scripture calls us to, as Pastor Andrew often says, to have a backbone of steel and a heart full of love. See we're called to engage the culture. In fact the Apostle Paul says that we are actually agents of reconciliation.

I love that term. People who will go in and will seek to be for the culture as a way of helping them to get back reconciled to the Heavenly Father. So as Justin prayed just a few moments ago we're reminded of the designation of this weekend, Sanctity of Life Sunday. Yes it strategically falls on Martin Luther King Jr. weekend and I think it's so that we can be reminded that evil still very much is attacking the Imago Dei.

Evil is still very much attacking the Imago Dei. The Imago Dei if you're not familiar with the Latin term it's what theologians have have basically called the doctrine of the image of God. The doctrine of the image of God states that regardless of age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, every single person that is born is created in the image of God. And because we are created in the image of God every human being has intrinsic value and is worthy of dignity and of love. You know I was thinking about this just a few moments ago as I was kind of in my mind just like man this is gonna be a but you know it's it's it's a little bit more of a tough heavier sermon and then I thought about it for about five seconds longer and I was like you know what but this is what it's all about. Because if we don't believe that every single person it was created in the image of God it has intrinsic value and intrinsic worth then guys we're not gonna go to the nations.

We're not gonna go to the neighborhoods. We're not gonna be the type of salt and light that God calls us to believe that God calls us to be if we are not convinced to our core that every single person is made in the image of God. And what we're coming up against in our culture is something that is clearly not new but still very much a hot-button issue is the is the matter of assigning value. I wonder if you thought these questions as I did this week what what makes someone valuable? What makes someone important?

How does somebody obtain that value? And who gets to determine how much a person's value is? And I wonder in our culture and in our day and age if you've ever thought how did we get to where we're at now?

How did we come to a place where ultimately the market gets to decide the value? I was thinking about this the other day and I'm just gonna come back down for just a moment to bring a little bit of levity in here. I was thinking about this the other day as I was we were we were putting together our Costco order and one of the things that I absolutely love from Costco is that they have a two-pound bag of dried mangoes.

Anybody else ever reveled in those bad boys? Let me tell you man those things are they're incredible it's it's candy but it's not there's no sugar added etc etc. So I was texting my wife and be like hey make sure we get this you know put this on the order. And I'm unloading groceries or I'm you know I'm putting the groceries away and I'm looking for these. Where are my bag of mangoes? I was like ah they forgot the mangoes and she said she gave me that look. The look of I did not order them but it wasn't a look of I didn't order them on I didn't not order them on accident it was the fact that mangoes when we started buying them about six months ago were about $13.99 for two pounds that's pretty good. And now they're $19.99.

Guys that's a 43% increase. Who determined the value of the mangoes? Well you all did those of you who all buy it you're like at Costco was like well we have to make a business decision. Too many people are buying these mangoes and they raise the price. Have you ever been there before you you kind of fell in love with something that you are familiar with and and you're like man we you continue to to you know invest in it or you buy it or you consume it or whatever and then all of a sudden the price gets jacked up 20-25% and you're like what in the world? Who decided the value of that thing?

Well the market did. I started thinking about homes. I grew up in California and we grew up in a house that was built in 1964. My dad was an architect and a builder and he does he would do this to us.

I thought that everybody did this when I was growing up but my dad would he would buy a sort of a fixer-upper in a little bit of a nicer neighborhood and then he would design it fix it up and a lot of times we would resell it. Not we. He. They.

I still have not received any proceeds from those sales. So I looked up this house that we lived on a 714 Orkney Way. I looked it up this last week and I was shocked. I don't think anybody has changed the carpet. They haven't changed one room. They haven't changed anything in that house. That house that was more that was built in 1964 upgraded in the early 90s is now worth 1.7 million dollars less than 2,000 square feet.

That's what you call insanity. Who determined the value? Well culture the market sort of determined the worth or the value of that thing.

One more. This this was a neat little story. How many of you guys enjoy pineapple? I think the majority of people enjoy a good pineapple. Well in the 1700s apparently you couldn't actually it was very rare for anybody to be able to buy or to own a pineapple. In fact the only people who would buy a pineapple were the people who could afford the $8,000 price tag that was put on a pineapple and then they would buy the pineapple and they would bring it home and guess what they wouldn't eat it. They would leave it right on the in a place where people could enjoy looking at it was it was almost for the purpose of just saying hey we can afford a pineapple. It's a little bit like people buying a cyber truck these days you know so hey this is this is a fun exercise when we're talking about things kind of helps us to bemoan inflation together right completely different when we're talking about people or talking about human beings when we're saying that they are created in the image of God and here's the painful reality is is when people are reduced to the level of products or services the culture thinks that they can determine their value too and maybe not everybody is thought of in terms of products or services you know people wouldn't necessarily admit to that but certainly the mindset of some is that there are some lives that are simply an inconvenience and therefore a reduced value you see our culture begins to justify the valuation of a life when the life becomes either an object or an obstacle in front of their perceived happiness I don't know maybe maybe this has been something that is has been said of you as well I I know that I could be somebody who's guilty of this for sure if you're driving on the interstate and somebody who's been tailing you pretty good decides that they're gonna just go ahead and cut in front of you all the sudden you're seeing red and you're thinking red and you're not quite thinking about the whole idea of intrinsic value and imago de and and all the sudden you're saying and thinking things about that person you know I want die in a fiery crash or whatever I mean I don't know what you say whenever that happens to you but we all have a little bit of a saying or at least a thought process you know to go a little bit more of a heavier but I mean guys this is how in some ways you ever watch those documentaries this is how someone can can convince themselves that they're justified in hiring a hitman to take care of their you know their husband or wife it's this idea that I have happiness that isn't you know and if something is if there's an object or an obstacle in my way of happiness I have to remove it because that's the ultimate goal for me so who gets to decide who has value and what is the value of one life you know thankfully that's not a very difficult question for God to answer okay in fact he's given us a lot of different places in the word for us to answer that question where we're gonna go today Psalm 139 is a passage of Scripture written by a very important biblical figure named David if you grew up in church you you know who David is he's the one who was referred to as a man after God's own heart David certainly was not a perfect man he was a deeply flawed man but he had a deep abiding relationship with God David knew God and David understood how God felt about him and how God felt about other human beings and we're gonna start at this place because here's the truth we will never view others rightly if we don't first understand how our Heavenly Father views us and them once we understand how God views us and how God views them it can help us to be able to understand and view and treat others rightly so let's begin reading Psalm 139 Oh Lord you have searched me and you've known me you know when I sit down and when I rise up you discern my thoughts from afar you search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways even before a word is on my tongue behold Oh Lord you know it altogether the first most obvious thing that we take away from David's poem here is that God knows you God knows you you know in fact he gives us three pictures that are found in the Hebrew word search where it says that you have searched me Lord and you have known me it really breaks down into three different examples for people of that day to be able to understand the breakdown goes like this it's either a miner who is mining for treasure or an explorer who is seeking new territory or a lawyer who is examining documentation either way the psalmist writes this in a way to help us to understand God deep took the deep dive to know you God knows you he knows every single thing that there is to know about you in fact it says in the second verse you know when I sit down and when I rise up this is probably the most mundane of tasks today some of you will go home and you will sit there on the couch and you will watch football right okay maybe not am I in the wrong crowd some of us will go home and watch I'm not really sure what else is on TV this afternoon but God sees you God knows you I mean he sees you when you you wipe off that cheeto crust on on the bottom of the couch he sees every single one of us in fact it says in continuing in verse 2 you see me when I sit down you see me when I rise up you discern my thoughts from afar another translation says even when I'm far away from you you discern my thoughts it's cool to know that that distance matters to God but even in our distance from him because of us going from him that doesn't change the fact that he knows us and he is thoughtful discerning our thoughts even when we're far verse 3 says you search out my path and my lying down I don't know for those of you who've had kids you you know this especially when you had your firstborn baby and you you would go in at night and you would see the baby in the crib and you would just watch and every little movie they're smiling they're probably dreaming no they just have gas I guess but we would look at that and we would wonder at them we take a thousand pictures of them and I was looking I mean that my kids frequently will go through my camera rolls and those be like dad you have the exact same picture 50 times in here why is that that's because we we're just interested but think about this God in that same way is interested in you he knows you even before a word is on your tongue behold Oh Lord you know it all together be nice if you stop those words Lord every once in a while just go ahead and press pause and that God knows you secondly God chose you God chose you it says in it says there in verse number 5 oh sorry yeah let's let's read verse number 5 together it says you hem me in behind and before and you lay your hand upon me such knowledge is too wonderful for me it is high I cannot attain it I mean think of that term you hem me in you know when you when you when you think about what this image meant you know if somebody actually creating a you know a plate you know two pieces of cloth and something in the middle of that cloth and then taking some hemming or some stitching and actually sewing it up on both sides what was the purpose for that value God not only knows you and he didn't just choose you but he he values you so much so that he he puts extra care and concern into protecting and then it says your hand is upon me man when you get that image of God who has sewn you in from both sides and then he's put his hand upon you you see a father who deeply loves deeply values you verse 7 where shall I go from your spirit or where shall I flee from your presence if I ascend to heaven you're there if I make my bed and shale you're you're there if I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea even your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me if I say surely the darkness shall cover me the light about me be night even the darkness is not dark to you the night is bright as the day for darkness is as light with you now some theologians and commentators have have had some debate about what exactly happens here in David's writing ok so it goes from this extremely endearing he knows us he chose us he values us he loves us protect us all of that and then it's like wait a second maybe David was like he knows me like nose knows me like he knows every single thought up that I've ever had and every deed that I've ever done in fact there's no in this I almost feel like maybe he got claustrophobic that's not a word but this is a word claustrophobic maybe he got claustrophobic for just a moment it was like wait a second there's nowhere I can go there's nothing I can do that is not known by my father so that's both comforting and deeply terrifying because if he knows every single one of my thoughts and I know every single one of my thoughts I could be in trouble I don't know if that's exactly what David was thinking when he wrote this but if that is what he is thinking I can completely resonate I mean have it have you been there before you have thought something you have said something you have done something that you are actually pretty shame pretty ashamed over I've been ashamed of thoughts before I've been a thing ashamed of actions before God knows there's no hiding in fact on the first few pages of the Bible we get the first game of hide-and-seek Adam and Eve they take of the forbidden fruit God comes back on the scene into the garden and he is like Adam where are you I mean it's not like he didn't know where Adam was I mean Adam was probably you know it's a little bit like playing hide-and-seek with the toddler you know you see their feet kind of hanging out of the cut you know they're sticking out of the cupboard and you're like oh no where are you you're such a good hider I'll never find you this is a little bit of what we get with God the Father he knows so why do we hide man this is a good little sidebar for us to be able to say hey why is it that when we do something think something say something that we actually hi I mean have you ever been in a place where you've done something Saturday night that's kept you from church on Sunday morning you don't have to raise your hand but have you been there before I know I've felt that way before certainly and the truth of the matter is is that we're running in the wrong direction when we think for just a moment why we hide well God's disappointed in me God's disgusted in me I don't know about you but I kind of imagine sometimes God running down the hallway trying to get his belt off and try you know I'm gonna get you boy it's just a little bit of you know daddy wounds here coming out for just just he's um but there is a sense in which some of us were hiding assuming that God just doesn't want us around anymore sometimes Christians don't have a problem believing that God doesn't love them they have a problem believing that God likes them it's good news to know God does love us but he also likes us what would happen if we changed our whole outlook on why the father comes looking for us away from the I've got to hide in guilt and shame to where he is his mercy where he is his grace where God is is compassion the Apostle Paul said it this way the kindness of the Lord is meant to lead you to repentance his voice is calling you so that he can offer you that mercy and that forgiveness man the next time the next time that you mess up the next time you sin run to the father run to the father and I know some of us in here today like we could be in this place I'm tired of messing up I'm tired of saying I'm sorry I'm tired of asking for forgiveness well think think of it this way if you mess up 1,000 time next next week and you run to the father 1,000 times I can promise you this God will begin that changing of your heart that you so long for and you so desire because you cannot spend that much time with the father and not be changed the problem is that we haven't done the thousand run you know we probably won't get to that thousand so let's run to the father this week verse number 13 says for you formed me in my inward parts you knitted me together in my mother's womb I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made wonderful are your works my soul knows it very well my frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret intricately woven in the depths of the earth your eyes saw my uninformed substance in your book were written every one of them the days that were formed for me when as yet there was none of them how precious to me are your thoughts Oh God how vast is the sum of them if I count them there are more than the sand I awake and I'm still with you the Genesis account creation account gives us an overview of what happened some sequence day one day two day three of what happened in the beginning and when God said let there be light we really don't get a ton more about what that meant now we know stars we know Sun we know moon we get that that's all pretty much we get guys we live in a galaxy called the Milky Way and when God said let there be light if you've ever seen pictures of it coming at a hundred and eighty six thousand miles a second at the speed of light came this our neighborhood billions of other galaxies exist and were created at the sound of his mouth at the sound of his voice let there be 200 billion stars and I wish we had time to marvel at other images of of the billions and possibly trillions of galaxies not planets not stars galaxies listen you God spoke galaxies into existence but when he created you he created you by hand we take special care to the things that we work with our hands on because there's unique value and unique purpose for those things you know at eight weeks a child in the womb has developed greatly eight weeks at eight weeks almost all of their organ their major organs are functioning between eight and twelve weeks is when that period really you know strengthens those those those major organs but eight weeks at eight weeks a baby starts to develop a fingerprint that is unlike any fingerprint of any other human being who has ever existed at eight weeks at eight weeks a baby can recognize familiar voices at eight weeks a baby can feel pain because their nervous system is intact it's in place it's functioning in fact there's been pictures and studies done that that show when when a baby at eight weeks needs to to have a test done and and and they they have to put a needle in the womb and a baby recoiling from that because it could sense it could feel that pain guys God creates every single person by hand because he has a unique and special purpose that only you can fulfill every single one sometimes I wonder if God the Father gathers around some some angels or something and it says hey look at look at this look at this one look at her I just for I just I'm just about finished with her she's she's gonna go and she's gonna reach one of the unreached people groups in India 2,000 unreached people groups in India she's gonna go reach one of them look how awesome she is and him I'm I'm gonna use this one he's gonna write songs about me and her she's me my plan for her she's gonna be a surgeon and man she's she's gonna be an awesome surgeon but she's also gonna use her influence in her generosity and she's gonna found a nonprofit I can go on and on and on this guy right here man he's he's gonna own a roofing company but he's gonna be the best roofer in the triad and when people use his business man they're gonna know something's different about him because the way he treats people is gonna reflect me I just imagine the father gets immense amount of joy when he forms every human being and assigns the purpose for their life church only God gets to define the purpose and the worth of a person only God Church no matter how young like a seed in the womb of a mother or how old like an aging grandparent whose body has all but stopped functioning no matter how handicapped no matter how disfigured no matter what mental capacity a person possesses or does not possess every single person that has been created has been created in the image of God and he has a specific purpose and plan for their life he's assigned their value intrinsically innately valuable you see the reason that is is because the value of a person is directly tied to their designer their creator God what God makes he places intrinsic value on it's the sanctity of life Sunday we've been able to see how much God values just one life so today we have to do this we got to call out the black eye in our culture not everybody believes that that is true for the unborn question is who determines the value of the unborn is it a society it is a is it a multi-billion dollar industry or is it a mother church I fully realize how uncomfortable it can be to discuss these things listen if we're gonna engage the culture with stealing our backbone and love in our hearts we have to be able to articulate the truth the truth that life begins at conception where God knits and forms each person and has a plan and a purpose for every single one of their life therefore life has just as much value inside of the womb as it does outside of the womb so in closing today Church two things I would like to say one for every single person within the sound of my voice you were created by God and he and he alone has given you worth and value do not speak against your Creator by saying things that would indicate self-loathing and self-hatred God designed you he loves you he sees value and purpose and worth in you he's got a plan for you we've got to stop saying things against our Creator secondly we've got to treat others as if we really believe in the imago de we've got to be able to treat other people that we disagree with and that annoy us and that bother us and that this you know that they don't line up with us politically they don't line up with us another we have to begin to see every single person if we're if we're truly going to reflect the nature of our father we have to see every single person as if they are valuable worthy of dignity and love they are made in the image of God can you imagine what your family would look like can you imagine what this church would look like what our community would look like if we said hey let's be clear God and God alone is the author of every singing every single human being that is breathing and God says they're valuable to me would you pray with me father we are so grateful today for your love for us that you know us that you see us that you you've you've called us to yourself you've chosen us you value us we thank you for for that truth and God I pray that that would live deep within our core but father I pray that that would influence Lord the by your spirit we would treat others Lord in a way that reflects your nature of love and if care Lord not seeking to assign value or worth to an individual but Lord understanding that every person that you've created has value and is worthy of love and is worthy of dignity and respect and I pray father you bless our time Lord as we respond to your word in Jesus name amen would you all stand with me we do this at the end of every single one of our worship services where we respond we're gonna sing we're gonna ask that God would be magnified in us and in our lives but we also have an altar that's wide open and maybe on this very first weekend we need to just do some some business with God I'm not really sure how his word spoke to you maybe it's about yourself personally and your relationship with God maybe you've been running you need to come back maybe it's in our treatment or our view our thoughts of other people and if we want to be a force we want to be salt and light in our in our world we're gonna need to come forward and say Lord I'm forgive me help me to have steel in my backbone and love in my heart let's sing and pray at this time