Sermon: A More Perfect View for 2022
Scripture Lesson: Ps 139:1-17 BBE “O Lord, you have knowledge of me, searching out all my secrets. 2 You have knowledge when I am seated and when I get up, you see my thoughts from far away. 3 You keep watch over my steps and my sleep, and have knowledge of all my ways. 4 For there is not a word on my tongue which is not clear to you, O Lord. 5 I am shut in by you on every side, and you have put your hand on me. 6 Such knowledge is a wonder greater than my powers; it is so high that I may not come near it. 7 Where may I go from your spirit? how may I go in flight from you? 8 If I go up to heaven, you are there: or if I make my bed in the underworld, you are there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, and go to the farthest parts of the sea; 10 Even there will I be guided by your hand, and your right hand will keep me. 11 If I say, Only let me be covered by the dark, and the light about me be night; 12 Even the dark is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day: for dark and light are the same to you. 13 My flesh was made by you, and my parts joined together in my mother's body. 14 I will give you praise, for I am strangely and delicately formed; your works are great wonders, and of this my soul is fully conscious. 15 My frame was not unseen by you when I was made secretly, and strangely formed in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book all my days were recorded, even those which were purposed before they had come into being. 17 How dear are your thoughts to me, O God! how great is the number of them!”
Introduction: How do see yourself? Who determines your value? Psalms 139 assures each of us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. The Basic Bible English version states that we are strangely and delicately formed by God himself. God doesn’t make mistakes; He made you and I the way we are for a particular reason. Every morning when you get out of bed, remind yourself, “you are valuable, you are important! You are handpicked by God, and God’s own special treasure. Every one of us, without a face lift, weight loss, or an extreme makeover, are created in the image of Almighty God!”
I have entitled this message, “A More Perfect View for 2022” Hagar, Sarah’s handmaid in the desert learned the omniscience of God, and exclaimed, "Thou God seest me:" She was just an overlooked maid, yet she discovered that God sees me! It will profit us if we meditate upon this solemn truth, as we embark on a new year. Psalms 139, assures us that not only the words on my tongue which have been spoken, but those in my tongue which as yet have not been sounded. The words I mean to speak he knows and even when I miss speak, He knows. Then consider our bodies. Our bodily frame is like a very skillful piece of embroidery, "curiously wrought;" its nerves, veins, and muscles are fashioned by the divine. At our first formation the wisdom of the Lord was present, working all things with benevolent design. Just as a watchmaker understands the watch he made; or a car manufacturer understands the car He has made, even so the Creator knows all visible, invisible and secret workings of our entire beings.
Every year brings it a desire to recreate ourselves. We made New Year’s Resolution, set new goals, all in an effort to recreate ourselves. Lofty goals and aspirations are admirable. Some maybe profitable and wholesome. Psalms 139 encourages us to accept and appreciate the work of our Creator God, and to celebrate His handiwork. Many frustrate with constant feeling of dissatisfaction. They want to be thinner, or heavier, or taller or shorter, lighter or darker. They seem to never be satisfied with who they are. Yet we have been fearfully and wonderfully made, without mistakes or blemishes. We are result of a perfect creator God, capable to pleasing Him, glorifying Him and blessing the world. If I need to be more, God would have made me more. I have everything I need to fulfill my God-given assignment. And so do you. This same spirit of dissatisfaction was the tool Satan used against Eve in the garden. Satan made Eve feel like she wasn’t enough and that she needed something else. Eve lived in a perfect environment, the most beautiful, the wisest, the richest, the most ideal creature ever created, yet Satan, “you are missing out on something.” That the same message he uses today. If only you had…If only you were….What you really need is…! Psalms 139 gives a more perfect view for 2022.
1. A view of Confidence. “My flesh was made by you, and my parts joined together in my mother's body. I will give you praise, for I am strangely and delicately formed; your works are great wonders, and of this my soul is fully conscious.
Without a view of confidence, we will find ourselves constantly wanting to change ourselves because we are comparing ourselves to the wrong standards. Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror and didn't like what you saw? Well, I have. It's common, especially among young people, to be self-conscious about our looks. Yet most of time, I have allowed others to tell what I should have, drive, eat, wear, and look like. When we begin to compare ourselves with other people, to notice other people’s expectations or preferences, we tend to look down on ourselves. Many people in Hollywood get surgery on their lips, hips and fingertips. They change noses, their chin, their chest, and other parts, because they want to look like somebody else. I wonder who are you trying to impress? Do you not know that God created you to be different from the next person for a reason? If you succeeded in changing yourself to look (or act) like someone else, then you’re no longer unique! What have you accomplished? Absolutely nothing, except for deep regret, poor self-image, depression, etc. Sometimes you become a cheap imitation. A more perfect view for 2022 should be a look of confidence and also a look of faith.
2.A view of Faith in God’s Creative Ability.…”your works are great wonders, and of this my soul is fully conscious. 15 My frame was not unseen by you when I was made secretly, and strangely formed in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book all my days were recorded,…” God’s creative ability created you a masterpiece! You are God’s masterpiece. God did not made mistake when he got to you. God doesn’t make mistakes; He made you and me the way we are for a particular reason. God sees things we don’t see! The Bible says, “For 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 eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” Psalm 139:13-14,16.
Joel Osteen tells a story about Some scientists challenging God in man making contest. “The scientist told God how brilliant man had become and much man’s knowledge had advanced. That they were nearly as smart as God. They could alter DNA, replace hearts, knees, lungs, and all kind of body parts. They could even make a man. God listened very patiently and kindly to the man. God said, "Very well, let’s have a man-making contest!" The scientist replied, "Okay, great!" God said, "We'll do this just like I did it back in the old days with Adam." The scientist said, "Sure, no problem," and bent down and grabbed himself a handful of dirt. God looked at him and said, "No, You have to get your own dirt!"
All man can do is manipulate the already complex creation which God has made. Nothing they’re doing is truly original. There nothing new under sun. One preacher recorded some amazing facts about humans being: A sneeze can exceed the speed of 100 mph. The average human produces 25,000 quarts of spit in a lifetime, enough to fill two swimming pools. The feet account for one quarter of all the human bodies bones(that's 52 bones in the feet alone). A pair of feet has 250,000 sweat glands. Your nose is not as sensitive as a dog's, but it can remember 50,000 different scents. Every square inch of the human body has an average of 32 million bacteria on it. A 3 pound human brain has a 100 billion neurons intricately linked to each other. The total number of connections in the brain is nearly a 1,000 million million. A human eye is composed of more than 2 million working parts. An eye cannot be transplanted. More than 1 million nerve fibers connect each eye to the brain. Your retina is thinner than paper, yet its tiny surface (only 1 inch square) contains 137 million light-sensitive cells. These retina cells perform up to 10 billion calculations per second in determining the nature of the image transmitted to the eye by light photons. No supercomputer on earth is capable of matching these virtually instantaneous calculations. The Psalmist simply conveys all this by saying you are fearfully and wonderfully made. The complexity of a human being gives us a glimpse of God's mind.”
You are God's masterpiece. Did you know that humans are the only creations that God breathed into the “breath of life?” He gave us living souls and pronounced us “good!” Genesis 1:31. So when God looks at us, He doesn’t just focus on our shortcomings, but He sees our potential to do great things for Him. Each of one of us are special. In all the world there is no one like you or me. Since the beginning of time, there has never been another person like me. Nobody has my smile, my eyes, my nose, my hair, my hands or my voice. I am special. No one can be found who has my handwriting, has my taste for food, clothing, music, or art. No one sees things just like I do. In all of time, there’s never been anyone who cries like me, or laughs like me. I am the only one who has my set of abilities; no one else has my combination of talents, ideas, abilities, and feelings. I am a masterpiece, valuable, and extremely rare. I do not need to imitate others. I will accept, even celebrate my differences. I am special.
Someone has said, “And I am beginning to realize, it is no accident I am special. God made me special for a purpose. He must have a job for me to do that no one else can do as well as I. Out of all the billions of applicants, only one is qualified; only one has the right combination of what it takes. That one is me, because I am special!”
A more perfect view for 2022 should be a view of Great Confidence in Yourself, a view of Great Faith in God’s creative ability and Finally, a view of assurance that You have what you need for your assignment.
3. A view of Assurance That You Have what you Need. ….16 “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book all my days were recorded, even those which were purposed before they had come into being. 17 How dear are your thoughts to me, O God! how great is the number of them!”
God has a unique plan for you. God knows all you’re ever going to face. It was determined before you were born. Psalm 139:16 says that God knew the challenges that you will face in life and that He has a unique plan for your life. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” When Jeremiah spoke these words, Israelites were captives in Babylon with little hope of release, yet God says, “I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
We serve a good God who loves you dearly and wants to use you regardless of your past experiences. He alone can turn your mistakes into miracles, your tests into testimonies. God knows that there’s no perfect human beings on this earth, not one; we all have our imperfections and weaknesses, and God already knew them before we were born, and He loves us in spite of them! John 3:16 says, “For God loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”
In Christ Jesus we have received a God of unconditional love. We are judged every day by our looks, the color of our skin, our educational level, the mistakes, and decisions we have made and so forth, because the world sees the outward appearance, our Heavenly Father sees the heart. Our world has been color coded on purpose. Just as an electrician uses color coded wiring to light up the world, every distinction on earth is on purpose. So rejoice today that you’ve been fearfully and wonderfully created by a great and mighty God who loves you so dearly. Is there any greater love than this?
A Story is told, “There was a man who lived in a tiny apartment and died in extreme poverty. This man never had any successes to speak of, nor any noted victories. He lived and died as just another face in the crowd. After the funeral, some family members went to his little run-down apartment to clear out his belongings. They found a painting hanging on the wall, so they decided to sell it at a garage sale. The woman who bought it from the garage sale for a few dollars, took it to a local art gallery for an appraisal and was shocked to discover that the painting was extremely valuable. The piece of art that hung for so many years in a little run-down apartment was painted by a famous artist who lived in the early 1800s. At auction it sold for several million dollars! Just think how that poor man’s life might have changed if he had known the value of what he possessed. He was a multimillionaire and didn’t even know it! The painting was not valuable because it was perfect or did not have blemishes, it was valuable because the artist that created it. That little name is the corner made all the difference.
Many people are living today with the priceless treasure of salvation within their grasp, but they have not yet done anything with it. They spent most their efforts, time and money trying to change their appearance when they are already a masterpiece, created by the most famous Artist of all. A more perfect view for 2022 should be a view of great confidence in yourself, a view of great faith in God’s creative ability and finally, a view of assurance that you have what you need for your assignment. If you have not accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Let it be your first step. Only Christ can help you see your real value. If you fail to understand your value, you’ll go on thinking, “I’m just average; I’m not that talented; I’ve made so many mistakes.” Instead, every morning when you get out of bed, remind yourself, “I’m important to God and His kingdom.” I’m handpicked by God with all I need for my assignment”, and “I’m God’s special treasure, created in the image of Almighty God!” I may lose a little weigh, join a fitness club, get a new car, color my hair, yet I have the assurance, I am fully loaded and this will be my best year! “How dear are your thoughts to me, O God! how great is the number of them!”
