Wonder and Amazement
How many of you this morning came into the sanctuary and were amazes, awed or astounded?
- Just as I thought
- Everything was pretty much as you expected right?
- Now some of us, and I hope all of us, were drawn into worship as we sang and prayed
- But did you come to stand in awe and amazement of God?
- Why not?
Let us consider for a moment, who it is we worship
- How many of you have been out at night and looked up at the starry night sky?
- How many stars are there up there?
- Millions, billions, trillions?
- Who put each one in place?
- Who holds them all in their place?
- God is the only one
- Is that not amazing, extraordinary?
- Yes, of course- think, imagine
- Who is this God we worship?
Consider the earth
- Have you ever sat on the grass and looked down into it?
- Did you see the bugs and the plants, the complexity of life there?
- Who made it?
- How does it all work?
- Does it ever inspire any sense of wonder at the Creator of that?
- Have you ever laid in the grass under a tree and watched the breeze move the leaves?
- Have you ever thought about all the mystery that fills our days?
- How does a baby grow?
- How does the earth turn and the sun warm the day, the plants make our food, children become adults?
- Have you ever experienced anything unexpected, out of the ordinary?
- Have you ever encountered a person who blessed you for no good reason?
- Have you ever entertained angels?
- Or maybe they weren’t angels, but you know God sent them?
Sometimes we are so dulled emotionally and spiritually that we miss the unexpected, the extraordinary, the hand of God, the brush of His Spirit through our day
- Have you ever watched a child see something new?
- They look and touch and study
- They see and find something unknown, unexpected
- They see the mystery and get excited
Perhaps that is why Jesus told us we have to be like little children to receive the kingdom of God
- Have you ever read the Bible and encountered something incredible?
- The Bible is the story of a God who showers compassion on His people
- That is out of the ordinary
- The other gods of the pagans required much from their worshippers
- They rarely showed compassion
- Our God is a God of love, compassion, grace and that is extraordinary
Read Ps 104:1-9 and 31-33
We have allowed the daily grind, sin, the world, materialism dull our senses and our hearts
- We have allowed the wonder of God to fade
- Remember when you first really encountered God?
- Were you calm, logical, scientific in your response?
- Somehow I doubt you were
So how do we overcome this antiwonder bent in our culture and in our souls?
- How do we grow in wonder of God?
Let’s look at Gen 28 and the story of Jacob
- We will start at verse 10
- Genesis 28:10-16
- 10 Then Jacob departed from Beersheba and went toward Haran.
- 11 He came to a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head, and lay down in that place.
- 12 He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
- 13 And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants.
- 14 "Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
- 15 "Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."
- 16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it."
- NASU
Wonder begins with the presence of God
- God stood there with Jacob and gave him some amazing promises
- Jacob woke up and exclaimed, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”
- Jacob found the secret of wonder-filled living “The Lord is in this place.”
- Out in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of a barren desert, Jacob met God’s awesome presence.
- If the Lord is present, that place is alive with wonder
Has God met and given you any amazing promises?
- He promised eternal life
- He promised to forgive our sins
- He promised to take us up to live with Him forever
- He promised never to leave or forsake us
Who made those promises?
- Who?
- Could it be the same God who hung the stars and made the earth?
- Could it be the same God that fashioned the sun to warm the earth?
- He promises us, individually, all these blessings and asks for us to believe
- Live like they are a reality by faith
- Faith, even that is a pretty amazing thing
- Faith in a God and a salvation and a Savior
For the Christian, wonder is an equal opportunity experience
- It is for Jacob sleeping with a stone for a pillow
- For the lonely widower
- For the young person looking for direction in life
- For the tired mother or a weary father
- For a single person longing for a date
If Christ is with us- and He is- then every day of our lives is an invitation to wonder
- We need only turn to Him and open our hearts and eyes
- Look full into His wonderful face
- Bask in His presence and share in His life
- Yield to His lordship, celebrate His glory and wonder
- Become a child again looking afresh at our Savior
We come today to celebrate the Lord’s Supper
- It is a memorial to the wonderful and unexpected
- God the Son allows His creatures to nail Him to a cross
- He substituted Himself for us so the just demands of God the Father are fully satisfied
- He gives us freedom from the consequences of our sin
- And by His grace gives us new life
- Amazing love, amazing grace
Let us celebrate with joy and thanksgiving
- Let us celebrate like we have just realized how great His gift to us is
- Let us approach this table with hearts warmed by His presence and love
- Let us humbly bow to worship and give thanks
- Let us stand in awe of our Living God who calls us day by day to follow Him
Let’s pray
Will the children come up to the front
