Made By God

Have you ever thought about how, why, and to what degree we as human beings place value on things, whether the object is a person, idea, behavior, piece of art, other? There is something called the Value Theory which basically states that we place a value on something based on how “good” it is perceived to be. In other words you would place a higher price value on a pencil drawing created by Michael Angelo than by me. For example, a jersey worn by Michael Jordan in his last game sold for 10.1 million dollars. We associate value with a certain kind of good or excellence. Why am I talking about this? Because we are in a battle when it comes to who determines the value, purpose, and significance of our bodies.

Today, we are in the last sermon in our Stewardship series this August. Two weeks ago, Rob Floyd talked about the stewardship of time, last week, Scott talked about what the Bible says about stewarding our money (or treasure), and today, we will be talking about being good stewards of our own bodies (the temple).

In the book, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, Carl Trueman challenges the church to recover the high view of the natural body. We can’t separate the immaterial from the material because the spirit and body is makes up a Soul or the human beings. Timothy Tennent wrote a book called, For the Body, where he raises the topic about the concerns over the secularization of the church. However, he also brings out the danger of over-spiritualizing the church where we focus on our private and individualistic inner life to the neglect our physical being.

How often have we been taught that spiritual things matter more than the physical because the material world is passing away? We should focus on eternal things but there is a need to recover a positive view of the physical world and the body. As Christians we should have a higher view of the body and creation than the secular world does.

My question is: How do we view our bodies?

If you only see your body through a natural world view - you will view yourself as a product of chance, the product of the blind material forces of evolution, which conveys no purpose or significance for your existence. Therefore, it’s ultimately up to you to find your significance, identity, and the reason for your existence.

But if we see our bodies as a gift made by God, if we understand that He made man and woman in His image, we understand that He made you and I the way we are for a reason. God is saying as a soul you have significance, purpose, and value. That is why we should take care of ourselves as best as we can because we matter to God, how we think about ourselves matters to God and what we do with our bodies matters to God.

Let’s read Psalm 139:13-18

13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.a Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed 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. 17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!

How vast is the sum of them! 18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.

The Scriptures make it clear that:

God made us

Jesus came to redeem us

We belong to God

Let’s look at how:

1. God made us

The Psalmist is saying that God individually handcrafted each of us with great care and attention both inwardly and outwardly, giving us our own distinctive traits. We were intentionally made to reflect Him as our Creator. When God created us, every part of us, within and without, the physical and the spiritual - He said it was very good.

There is a place in Vienna called, “Made By You”

where you can make your own pottery and put your initials on it and call it your own. The teens had an event there recently and made some very beautiful, creative works of art. We all have creativity /however it is manifested/ but think about the significance of something being “made by God's own hand” Made by the Creator of the universe. We, as human beings, were handcrafted by Him inside and out.

Yet we have issues with our bodies due to the fall, no matter what stage we are in life, even when we’ve long outgrown our new-born baby cuteness, when we’re long past our prime or physical best, and when our bodies begin to show all the frailties and limitations that come with advancing age–– God is reminding us that no matter what we see in the mirror we have been fearfully and wonderfully made by the Creator of the Universe. We can’t begin to count God’s thoughts towards us or measure the unchanging value God has for our bodies, no matter how it looks or however we feel about it.