“I Know” - Paternal Instincts
James Michener, writing in his book, The Source, tells the story of a man named Urbaal, who was a farmer living about 2200 B.C. He worshipped two gods: one, a god of death, and the other, a goddess of fertility. One day, the temple priests tell Urbaal to bring his young son to the temple for sacrifice—if he wants good crops. Urbaal obeys, and on the appointed day drags his wife and boy to the scene of the boy’s “religious execution” by fire to the god of death. After the sacrifice of Urbaal’s boy the several others, the priests announce that one of the fathers will spend next week in the temple, with a new temple prostitute. Urbaal’s wife is stunned as she notices a desire written more intensely across his face than she had seen before, and she is overwhelmed to see him eagerly lunge forward when his name is called. The ceremony over, she walks out of the temple with her head swimming, concluding that, “If he had different gods, he would have been a different man.” Folks, what you believe determines where you go, what you do, how you spend your time. What you believe determines how you respond to hard times, temptation, pressures around you. And what you believe determines where you will spend eternity, and how quickly you get there. Really, what you believe determines who you are.
Today we begin our series on what Christians really believe, who we are as a people. Our theme for the 40 Days of Prayer and Fasting is “I Know”, taken from the song “I Know Who Holds Tomorrow”. The song says: Many things about tomorrow I don’t seem to understand. Isn’t that true? So much of what happens is so hard to grab ahold of, to find its purpose or meaning. But the song continues: But I know who holds tomorrow, and I know who holds my hand. Even in life’s ups and downs, we can be confident of some things. I chose the picture of Machias Seal Island, a small island off Grand Manan right here in New Brunswick for a couple of reasons. #1 – My grandfather kept light there for 9 years, so it’s personal. And #2, I thought of our lives. Doesn’t it sometimes seem that we have nowhere to go, so we just hang on for dear life to what little we have when the storms hit? Is that the life of a lighthouse keeper, or the life of a Christian in tough times?
Let’s face it: God says that we will have difficulties in life. All of us. The self-confident person will hope he can ride out the storm with his personality and abilities. What happens when they fail? But a God-confident person has an outside force to hang on to, like that lighthouse facing gale-force winds for days on end, but standing strong because of its foundation. Today we begin a series looking at our foundation. What we can hang on to for dear life, in gale-force winds. What you can cling to when you need a place to stand.
We will spend from now until Easter sorting through the Apostles’ Creed, sifting slowly through this statement of belief written in 150AD, meant to
show what Christians really believe. It was meant to sort out real Christians from heretics, and meant to draw real Christians closer. And today we can find
it as a source of encouragement. Let’s turn to #8 in our hymnal and read it together. Let’s stand as we read.
I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in
the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
Today we will focus on the first element in the Apostles’ Creed: who God is. The Creed states two facts about God: He is Father, and He is Creator. They walk hand in hand. Let’s look at God the Creator first.
They tell me there were these three professionals sitting around a table talking about what the oldest profession was. The doctor says, "Well, the Bible says that God took a rib out of Adam to make woman. Since that clearly required surgery, then the oldest profession is medicine.” The engineer looks at the doctor and says, "No, the Bible also says that God created the whole world out of void and chaos. To do that, God must surely have been an engineer. So engineering is the oldest profession.” The politician smiles and leans forward and says, "Ah, but who do you think created the Chaos?"
It is true that God created something out of nothing. Let’s look at how God created: ex nihilo – that’s Latin for “out of nothing” - Gen. 1:1,2 - "in the beginning" coupled with the Hebrew word “bara”, which means “created” means starting something out of nothing. He didn’t start with something else that was equally as eternal as Him. He called into existence things which did not previously exist. John 1:3 - "All things came into being by Him, and apart form Him nothing came into being that has come into being." I like how the NLT puts it: “He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn’t make.”
All this is hard to understand. But we go back to what the Apostles’ Creed says: I believe… I believe… I believe. Heb. 11:3 - "By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible." It takes faith. It is beyond our observation and experience. God tells us this is how it is, and we are to trust Him. It is not contrary to the scientific evidence we have to observe, but we cannot explain it with our small-brains understanding.
So we have seen how God created. What about why?
1. To show us His glory and be glorified in creation. His glory is His beauty, His power, His brightness, His fame, His honor, His radiance. It is who He is. Now, this isn’t egotistical for God, because He’s not a finite or imperfect creature.
- Is. 43:7 "I have created for My glory."
- Is. 48:11 - "For My own sake, for My own sake I will act . . .My glory I will not give to another."
- Ephesians 1:12-14 - We exist "to the praise of His glory."
- Heb. 2:10 - "for Whom are all things and through Whom are all things."
- Psalm 19:1 - "The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands."
- Psalm 104 - in the midst of a great description of creation, it says, "Let the glory of the Lord endure forever."
2. To show us His goodness, we who could acknowledge and enjoy His goodness. He wants a relationship with us.
- 1 Timothy 6:17 - God, "richly supplies us with all things to enjoy."
- James 1:17 - "every good and perfect gift is from above."
- Acts 14:17 - God’s goodness satisfies our hearts with food and gladness."
- Habbakuk 3:17-19 - the greatest joy is God Himself, not the gifts He gives. He wants us to love Him, not only the gifts He gives.
Now watch this: Matthew 6:33 puts both purposes in order. We are to seek first His kingdom and righteousness (His rule and glory) and all these things will be added to us (enjoy His goodness). He created so that we could enjoy Him, and He could enjoy us. But something went wrong.
Humans failed God. Each of us personally. So even though God is Father because He created everything, and He is Father because He created people from Himself, each of us stood at one time fatherless, spiritual orphans on earth because we wandered from His family. Like the prodigal son in Luke 15, we each wandered away from our source of identity and tried to find out who we were by what we looked like, or how we acted, or who our friends were. Each of us abandoned our Father for what the world was offering us. Let me spend just the last few minutes looking at God the Father. Who is He, and why is allowing to be our Father so much better than being orphans?
1.He Knows
Matthew 6:8 “Therefore do not be like the pagans. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.”
Matthew 6:31-33 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
Philippians 4:19 “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
2.He Cares
Mark 4:38-39 “But Jesus was in the stern of the boat, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
No wonder 1 Peter 5:7 says: “Cast all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you.”
3.He Corrects
Hebrews 12:5,6 “And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: ‘My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; for whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.’”
Proverbs 3:12 “For whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights.”
Friends, God’s chastening isn’t fun, but it’s because God loves you. In truth, God loves you just the way you are, but He loves you too much to let you stay that way.
4.He Guides
Psalm 23:3 “He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”
John 16:13 “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on his own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.”
5.He Protects
Psalm 91:1-7 “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.’ Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you.”
Does this mean that nothing bad will ever happen to us if God is looking out for us? Of course not. Bad things happen in a bad world. But perhaps if we listened closer to God’s directions today, we wouldn’t have to ask for so much deliverance later.
6.He is Proud of My Right Decisions More Than My Great Accomplishments
Joshua 24:15 “And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Proverbs 21:2,3 “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the hearts. To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.”
Proverbs 21:3 (The Message) “Clean living before God and justice with our neighbors mean far more to God than religious performance.”
7.He Forgives
1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Psalm 103:12 “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
Hebrews 10:17 “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”
Isaiah 43:25 “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.”
God’s Father heart drives all He does. You could say that what He believes about us determines how He treats us. He sees us with potential to become like Him. Not through our goodness, but through His grace. If God could create something out of nothing, He could change this ol’ heart of mine, too. He can cleanse me, change me, make me new, make me holy. And He can do it for you, too.
These are the truths we can cling to when times get tough. This is what we believe. This is how it can change us. I know who holds tomorrow. I know who holds my hand. He is our Creator, our Father, our God. This we believe.
