Title: Three Truths About God … and You
Text: Isaiah 43:1-7
Thesis: Christ makes himself known to us as our creator, redeemer and keeper. (We are created by God, redeemed by his grace and kept by his power.)
Introduction
The Royal Caribbean Cruise Line’s “Oasis of the Seas" is the largest, tallest, widest, heaviest and costliest passenger ship ever built.
• Taller than a 20 story building
• Carries 8,000 people
• 21 swimming pools and a water park
• On-board actors and actresses perform off-Broadway style productions in a playhouse that seats 1,400
• Central Park green space half the size of a football field w/trees over 20’ tall
• Generators produce enough power to light 105,000 homes
• 3,300 miles of electrical cable and 158,000 gallons of paint to cover the ship… enough to paint the George Washington Bridge three times
• Even boasts a tattoo parlor
Our text tells us that God will be with us when we pass through the waters… that when we pass through the waters of life they will not sweep over us. The Homiletics Magazine writers cleverly point out that Royal Caribbean may provide a “Oasis of the Sea” but God declares Himself to be something of a “Lord of the Seas.” (Homiletics, January / February 2010. Vol. 22, No. 1, PP 14-15.)
The “Lord of the Seas” is not a luxury cruise ship or ocean liner. “The Lord of the Seas” is God. “The Lord of the Seas” is not something we have created to sustain us through the waters of life. “The Lord of the Seas” is in fact the creator, redeemer and sustainer of our lives.
This is what the text says about “The Lord of the Seas.”
I. God created you
But now this is what the Lord says, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel… Isaiah 1:1a
At the very onset of our knowledge of God’s creative activity is the vivid imagery of the creation of humankind from Genesis 1:26-27, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness… so God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
“The Lord formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” Genesis 2:7
In Isaiah 29:16; Jeremiah 18 and Romans 9:21 we are given the image of a potter at work molding the clay into the vessel of his choosing. The implication clearly is that God is the potter and we are the clay. We are molded and formed by God.
In Isaiah 44:11-13 the creative activities of the craftsman, a blacksmith and a carpenter are cited as examples of objects being formed by the hands of their creator.
The Psalmist instructs us, “Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his, we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.” Psalm 100:3
Psalm 139 describes God’s activity in our making. The Psalmist wrote, “You created my inmost being,; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are too wonderful.” Psalm 139:13-14
And it is because you are created by God that:
• You are precious and honored in God’s sight and loved. Isaiah 1:4
• You are created for God’s glory. Isaiah 1:7
In the Disney animated movie Toy Story, Woody, who is a toy cowboy confronts Buzz Lightyear who is a toy astronaut. Woody tells Buss, “You are not a space hero. You are not a space ranger! You are an action figure… a child’s plaything.”
This of course is devastating news to Buzz Lightyear who then realizing who and what he really is says with his head hanging in resignation, “I am just a stupid, little, insignificant toy.”
Then Woody comforts Buzz with another reality. He says, “Look over in that house, there’s a kid who thinks you’re the greatest, and it is not because you are a space ranger; it is because you are his.”
Lifting his foot, Buzz notes… written on the sole of his space ranger boot in black permanent ink, is the name of the little boy to whom he belongs. (Toy Story, Disney, 1995, Directed by John Lasseter and submitted by Greg Asimakoupoulos to PreachingToday.com)
Our value is not in who we are and what we can or cannot do… it is in to whom we belong. It is in who made us and who considers us precious in his sight. Our value is in who loves us.
The second truth about God and you is that:
II. God redeemed you
Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. Isaiah 1:1b
When something is redeemed it may mean that it was bought back or repurchased. We say that when a ransom is paid to gain the release of someone of something, it has been redeemed. In the case of ships, cargo and crews captured by Somali hijackers, when a ransom is paid and the ship, cargo and crew are released… they have been redeemed.
When I was a boy my mother collected Gold Bond Stamps and Green Stamps. When she had filled enough books she could take her stamps to the redemption center where there were all kinds of things on display… waiting to be redeemed. I remember that is how she paid several books of stamps in order to gain the release, so to speak, of a waffle iron appliance.
A more current example is that of gift cards. Retailers now have gift card centers where you can purchase gift cards, including prepaid credit cards that can be used to redeem just about anything. When you use a gift card you use the value of that card to purchase something you desire more than the value of the card.
The idea of redemption is that of setting something free that is being held by someone or something else.
In Ephesians 1:7 Paul wrote, “In him [Jesus] we have redemption through his blood, forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.”
In Colossians we read, “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Colossians 1:13-14
In I Peter, “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver and gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” I Peter 1:18-19
God has redeemed us from the power of the guilt and consequences of our sin and given us forgiveness. God had redeemed us from a life of darkness and meaningless existence and given us hope and eternal life.
We are created by God, who values us so much that when we wandered away and were lost in darkness, he redeemed us… he bought us back and brought us back through the death of Jesus Christ.
The third truth about God and you is this:
III. God protects you
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you… for I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. Isaiah 1:2-3
The text gives us two visual images that have the potential of stirring deep emotional responses:
• When we pass through the waters, we will not be swept away.
• When we walk through the fire, we will not be consumed.
If you follow football at all you know that most of the headlines are grabbed by quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers. But the player who garnishes the second highest paychecks in the NFL are offensive left tackles. Linemen.
In 1985 Lawrence Taylor sacked Quarterback Joe Theismann in the Giants / Redskins game that ended Theismann’s playing career. Because most quarterbacks are right handed, they are susceptible to being sacked from their blind side or the left side of the line. So the offensive tackle is the primary line of defense against the quarterback being sacked by a charging defensive opponent.
Michael Lewis originally wrote a book about The Blind Side and now there is a movie currently playing by that title about the incredible and heartwarming story of a homeless boy named Michael Oher who was taken in by a loving Christian family. His intellectual test scores were abominable but he scored a remarkable 92 % in the area of protective instincts. Once he understood that his job was to protect his quarterback he became a phenomenal offensive left tackle for his high school and the University of Mississippi. In 2009 Michael Oher was drafted in the first round by the Baltimore Ravens where he has started every game this season and plays on the blind side of the line to prevent his quarterback from being blindsided.
God is our left tackle, so to speak. God will defend us against the rush of life’s deep water and from being consumed by life’s raging fires.
It is pretty much a given that we will all have to go through hard stuff in this life. The promise is not that we will never be sick or never be unemployed or never be jilted or never be knocked around in life… the promise is that God will be with us through the deep waters of life and the consuming fires of life and we will not be overwhelmed or consumed.
Conclusion
In the Saturday, January 9, 2010 edition of the Denver Post Garrison Keillor wrote a column he titled: Aboard a Floating Village. In the essay he cites his recent experience on a cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico in which he and his fellow cruisers have “left life behind and formed a village of 1,200 souls joined by a solemn compact to try to have some fun.” They have boarded a floating oasis in order to “get out of cell phone range for a week in which they hope to sweeten up to their families.”
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just leave life behind for a week and go on a luxury journey to exotic places out of cell phone range and far, far away from all that is overwhelming and consuming in life?
Russian author Leo Tolstoy once said, “If you are unhappy with your life, you can change it in two ways: either improve the condition in which you live, or improve your inner spiritual state. The first is not always possible, but the second is.”
If we are going through deep water or a fierce fire we can either do something to escape or change that situation. But we know that is not always possible. What is always possible is the second option. We can improve our inner spiritual state.
On this day we can certainly improve our spiritual state by grasping this truth:
• God created you!
• God redeemed you because he loves you deeply!
• God protects you through the deep water of life.
