We Are Wonderfully Made Series

Introduction

Video Ill.: Imperfections by Matthew West

In our world today, our identities are in crisis. Everyone around us tries to tell us who we are, what we should do, and who we should be.

What do we believe? Who do we support? Are we Republican or Democrat? Male or female? What religion, ethnicity, or race are we? Who are we? In what is our identity found?

Value of a Person

Source: C. William Pollard, The Soul of the Firm (Zondervan, 2000)

https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2000/december/12759.html

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What is the value of a person? Can we measure this value by a paycheck, a retirement benefit, or a stock option?

Christian author William Pollard tells the story that “Some years ago I purchased a Hummel Christmas plate for my wife, Judy. The price was $21.95. It was the first Christmas plate produced by the famous German firm, and the store clerk assured me it would increase in value. Recently Judy and I attended an antique auction and were surprised to see a Hummel Christmas plate just like ours being sold for more than $1,000. What was it about the plate that caused this remarkable growth in value? Its substance had not changed, and it was not more beautiful. It had not changed size. But it was in greater demand. The original mold had been broken. Now only a limited number of plates were available, with no opportunity for replacement. All of these factors had contributed to an increased value.

So it is with humanity: there is only one mold per person and no opportunity for replacement.

But that’s not the way the world views humanity. The world today devalues people. People are disposable. There are people who are less important, less influential, less valuable than the rest of the population. Why else do we have such a push in our world for abortions?

This morning, as we continue our search for identity, we can have hope that we were each wonderfully and uniquely made.

Last week, we discovered that the beginning of our true identity is found in the fact that we were made in God’s image. Mankind is the only part of creation that has been made with the qualities of God Himself! We were given a purpose. We build relationships. We love and are loved.

Because we are made in God’s image, we are special and unique in God’s eyes. We are important to Him. The wonder of God’s creation is in each of us!

As we begin, the marvel of creation is us!

David, in Psalm 139, tells an amazing story of God and His relationship with us. He begins by declaring how wonderful God truly is! God is everywhere. He’s in everything. He is everything!

But despite how amazing and wonderful God is, He hasn’t forgotten about little ol’ you and me. As a matter of fact, David says that God has searched us, and knows us intimately. It’s not like all of the friends on Facebook that we “know”.

God knows our thoughts. God knows our desires. God knows what we are going to say before we even know ourselves.

God knows us.

It is in this setting, that David writes, starting at verse 13:

13 For You created my inmost being;

You knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Your works are wonderful,

I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from You

when I was made in the secret place.

|| When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

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, NIV1984)

George A. F. Knight

The Daily Study Bible Series, Psalms Vol. 2

Westminster John Knox Press, 1983

p. 324

[David] declares in a telling pictorial manner that man is not God, he is but a part of created matter — and yet! every ligament, every tissue, every blood-vessel in his body, the hundred billion neurons or nerve cells inside his skull, its chemical reactions that take as little time as one millionth of a second to act, all these marvels are listed in the master plan or diagram or on the drawing board that God had before Him, and on which He designed the various components He needed to create me.

God was intimately involved in making us, in forming us, in creating us!

If we ever needed a sense of value and identity, right there it is! The creator of the universe carefully, methodically, and miraculously made you and made me — the marvel of His creation!

2. So this morning, we need to understand our individual unique design.