Believe Week 7: Humanity is a Creation of God!
Devotions this week based on the Message: “BELIEVE: Week 7: Humanity”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Randy Frazee entitled, “BELIEVE.”
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
Want a different perspective?
Yesterday’s outlook on humanity wasn’t all that great. It is sad that much of our culture has bought into this subconscious view of who they are and who the people around them are.
But what does the Bible say? How does a biblical worldview of humanity stand in glorious difference to the humanistic mindset? Today through Friday, I’d like to use Martin Luther’s explanations to the Apostle’s Creed to reflect on biblical truth that makes more sense, gives more value, and exemplifies a glorious purpose for humanity.
A key start is our origin. We were not a product of chance, but the design of the imagination of the almighty God.
Without any apologies, the Bible begins with the reality of God:
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
There is no need for billions of years, random mutations, and goo to become you. In the matter of 7, 24 hour days (evolution and creation don’t mix…days were not long period of time…but another discussion for another time!) God’s intricate engineering and design came to reality in perfect form, balance and precision.
Including you.
Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
So which would you rather believe about you and humanity? Product of random chance or product of a divine Creator?
Our Christian confession put it this way:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.
Martin Luther expanded on what this statement means about us and all humanity.
What does this mean? I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them. He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life. He defends me against all danger and guards and protects me from all evil. All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him.
The amazing thing is that not only did God design and initiate your being and that of all humanity, he is the one behind preserving it. He takes care of it. He provides what I need. He didn’t abandon me to fend for myself, but put around me plants to eat, put in me a mind to think, put on me hands to work so that life may continue. (Consider how this contrasts with the culture around that believes it is the sole force controlling climate, growing, scientific discovery, and the like.)
Notice Luther also highlights the Lord’s willingness to defend us. You only defend what you find valuable.
A biblical belief of humanity tells us we are special creations of the Almighty God who loves you so much he provides you and willing to defend you…all because he loves you.
This is most certainly true.
Apply: How do these truths about humanity change how you interact with people today?
Prayer: Lord God thank you for your love for me and all humanity to create us in your image, provide for us daily, and protect us from harm and evil. AMEN.
Believe Week 7: What is your view of humanity?
Devotions this week based on the Message: “BELIEVE: Week 7: Humanity”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Randy Frazee entitled, “BELIEVE.”
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
What do you believe about humanity?
Perhaps this is a question that you really haven’t paused to reflect on. Yet, underneath some of the prominent issues of our day is really a belief about humanity. Consider some of issues that come up often in the news:
Racism…Abortion…Gender issues…Class “warfare” and more.
Do these issues all have an underlying belief system? I propose they do.
My belief about humanity is a key indicator of my worldview. How do I view people and their value are dependent on what set of worldview glasses through which I am looking. In general, there are two worldviews: Humanistic and Biblical. A humanistic worldview sees the world without God. A Biblical worldview sees a world with God. A humanistic worldview allows humanity to define their world. A Biblical worldview allows God to define our humanity. The differences are stark and the impact large.
Perhaps you have never considered the underlying cause of the above issues. However, consider what happens when a culture embraces a humanistic view of humanity versus a biblical view of humanity.
Again, perhaps over simplifying, but a humanistic worldview perpetuates these three tenets about humanity.
- All humanity is a product of random chance. Billions of years of random reactions have brought from goo (primordial slime and energy), you (a highly evolved animal). This instills the reality that humanity is an accident, perhaps even an invasion on other parts of nature. Their value is equal to that of a tree or a frog.
- The purpose of humanity is to survive. Charles Darwin made popular the evolutionary theory and natural selection. This perspective inherently says that death is a good thing because it cleanses the weak and allows the strong to prevail. Survival of the fittest is the purpose of life. You must (in the words of “Survivor”) outwit, outlast, out play everyone else.
- Every other person is your competition. If the strong must survive, I must inherently feel threatened by every other human being. Some will be victors and others will be victims.
Again, perhaps over simplified, but can you begin to see themes that are playing out in our world today? Racism promotes one group of people is better than others. Life is random and cheap. An unborn child is competition to the life I want to live or simply a reality that the weak will not survive. Nature issues become more important than human life issues. Gross atrocities such as the Holocaust come in an evil struggle to be the superior race.
The list can go on.
The reality is the sinful nature…our sinful nature desires to live apart from God. We think that life apart from the constraints of the divine is better than with the order of the Lord. The apostle Paul recognized that this was a conscious decision that mankind makes. It is not that God is absent, it is that sinful minds choose to try to explain life and humanity apart from God. (Romans 1:18-21; 28-31)
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
We see this reality in humanity…but is it the way to see humanity? Tomorrow through Friday we will explore humanity as God sees it…it presents a much brighter outlook!
Apply: What results of a humanistic worldview do you notice in the world around us?
Prayer: Lord God, thank you for making your perspective on humanity plain in the pages of the Bible. Lead us to embrace and live your view of life and not a humanistic view. AMEN.
Believe Week 7: You are a Saint!
Devotions this week based on the Message: “BELIEVE: Week 7: Humanity”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Randy Frazee entitled, “BELIEVE.”
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
Happy All Saints Day!
The observation of All Saints Day in the Christian Church year is one of what is known as the “minor” festivals (major festivals being Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, etc.). The day traditionally has been one where the church remembers those they have designated saints due to their stellar faith and treasury of merits that were available to others to tap into.
The day before, October 31, Martin Luther chose to post 95 statements for debate on the sale of indulgences as a practice that was not beneficial to the souls of mankind and stood in opposition to the very grace of God. He knew that many people would be coming to the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany to give homage to the saints of the past as well as view relics of the deceased saints that Elector Frederick the Wise had collected. Many would buy indulgences to tap into the extra good works of the saints and apply them to their own merit or for a loved one that was languishing in purgatory (so the church of Luther’s day taught). So Luther knew this teaching was against the Scripture and did nothing in reality to make people right with God. He wanted to spark the debate to get people back to the Bible and truth that people are not saved by the merits of saints, but by the merit of Jesus Christ and his perfect life, death and resurrection.
His statements lit a firestorm that became the beginning of the protestant reformation. While he didn’t desire a church named after him, the Lutheran church stands in the legacy of a “Back to the Bible” movement that proclaims our eternity in heaven rests solely on the perfect life, innocent death and glorious resurrection of Jesus. As Jesus’ work is credited to our account we can rightly embrace the title of “Saint!” We ARE holy because Jesus made us holy. We don’t need the merits of other Christians and we certainly don’t have to buy our forgiveness. It was bought for us and given to us as a free gift!
So happy All Saints Day…you are one of them!
Embrace this identity. It reminds you that you are a dearly loved, redeemed, child of God. It reminds you that you are not defined by your sin, but by your Savior.
This week’s key verse is the familiar John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”
God sees each human being as valuable. He loves the world and he loves you. That’s why he sent Jesus. He wanted and wants you to spend an eternity with him. That’s how valuable you are to him.
Our key truth this week in our “Believe” series is so fitting: “I believe all people are loved by God and need Jesus as their Savior.” This truth you probably wouldn’t hear many people proclaim around the time of Luther. They, like Luther in his early years, saw God as an angry judge who had to be appeased by a life of works. Salvation was merited by living as the church demanded and paying for indulgences when your life fell short.
We as Christians take this statement for granted. God does love you. We have Jesus as Savior. But for years these glorious truths were buried under the bureaucracy and false teaching of the church. People knew they were sinners, but they missed that Jesus had made them a saint.
Enjoy living this week as a SAINT of God, loved, forgiven, and given a place in heaven by grace alone, through faith alone, found in Scripture alone.
Apply: Consider – do you identify more as a “sinner” or as a “saint”? In Christ, you are a saint! What changes when you begin to embrace this as your primary identity?
Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for the work of Martin Luther to bring back to the forefront of our faith the truth that you love the world and sent Jesus to save the world. Thank you for not just doing that for the world, but for me personally. AMEN.
Believe Week 6: The Church…A Reformation Reflection
Devotions this week based on the Message: “BELIEVE: Week 6: The Church”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Randy Frazee entitled, “BELIEVE.”
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
I wonder what he was thinking?
Did he regret what he did or energized by it?
Isolated, did he feel alone or the presence of God?
Did he have questions as to what he started or confident it was a good work God would see through to completion?
October 31, 1521…honestly we don’t know exactly what happened on that day. But we do know more than likely Martin Luther spent it in the Wartburg Castle near Eisenach Germany. He was in disguise as “Knight George.” It wasn’t a medieval Halloween costume, it was to protect him from those that wanted to rid the earth of him.
Four years prior on October 31, 1517, Martin Luther had posted the infamous “95 Theses” which desired debate against the teaching of indulgences that his study of Scripture found contrary to the teaching of grace. Convicted by the truth of God’s Word and a strong desire to remove the false teaching from the church, Martin Luther became the focus of ire by the pope and the Catholic church.
In April of 1521 (500 years ago!), he stood before a “diet” or group of religious authorities. They listed multiple of his writings and told him to recant or face excommunication. Excommunication wasn’t just “I’m not welcome in the church anymore” but it was “we have the right to burn you at the stake as a heretic.” So it was a big deal.
After prayer and wrestling, Luther stood his ground and said at the end of the hearing:
“Unless I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason – I do not accept the authority of the popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other – my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen.”
He left the city of Worms on April 25, under a promise of safe passage back to his home. However on May 4 as he traveled, cohorts of his friend, Elector the Wise, “captured him” and brought him to safety in the Wartburg Castle.
He could have been bitter. He did struggle at times with depression. But he used the nearly a year that he was there to translate the New Testament into the German language, a first for German-speaking people.
So what was he doing 500 years ago on October 31, 1521? I don’t know for sure, but maybe he took time to reflect on key passages that God worked with conviction in his heart to stand on the truth of God’s Word and the message of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, found in Scripture alone.
Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
Ephesians 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
For our culture this weekend is a day to dress up and get candy or celebrate that which is death and darkness. As a Christian (even if you aren’t Lutheran), let your October 31 include a pause of reflection and prayer that we live in the shadow of grace exhibited by our heavenly Father in Christ; rediscovered and defended by his faithful servant Martin Luther; and given to us by God’s Spirit for our hope and peace today!
Apply: I encourage you to review a bit of Luther’s life. Here’s a post on the Diet of Worms which happened 500 years ago this year! https://lutheranreformation.org/history/the-diet-of-worms/
Prayer: (A hymn by Martin Luther)
1 From depths of woe I cry to Thee, In trial and tribulation;
Bend down Thy gracious ear to me, Lord, hear my supplication.
If Thou rememb’rest ev’ry sin, Who then could heaven ever win
Or stand before Thy presence?
2 Thy love and grace alone avail To blot out my transgression;
The best and holiest deeds must fail To break sin’s dread oppression.
Before Thee none can boasting stand, But all must fear Thy strict demand
And live alone by mercy.
3 Therefore my hope is in the Lord And not in mine own merit;
It rests upon His faithful Word To them of contrite spirit
That He is merciful and just; This is my comfort and my trust.
His help I wait with patience.
4 And though it tarry through the night And till the morning waken,
My heart shall never doubt His might Nor count itself forsaken.
O Israel, trust in God your Lord. Born of the Spirit and the Word,
Now wait for His appearing.
Believe Week 6: The Church…I need you…you need me!
Devotions this week based on the Message: “BELIEVE: Week 6: The Church”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Randy Frazee entitled, “BELIEVE.”
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
Ever had one of those days where you thought, “Life would be easy, if it weren’t for the people”?
Or “Work would be easy if it weren’t for the people.”
Or, true confession, as a pastor there have been moments, “Church would be easy if it weren’t for the people.”
But then again without people, life would be boring, work would not get accomplished and for sure, the Church would not exist!
God designed the Church to be made up of people.
And part of the reason to belong to the Church and a local church is the people!
We need each other for many reasons but here are two key ones mentioned in Hebrews 10:23-25:
23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
First: We need each other to hold on to the hope we have in Jesus.
There are many threats to our faith in the world around us. Cultural shifts away from Christ. Political policies making legal what is sinful. Social movements that seek to remove Christ and Christianity from the public sphere. Being a Christian is tough. Not only do we need the power of the Holy Spirit, but we need each other. There is encouragement just in knowing you are not alone. There is strength in knowing that others are there to remind me of God’s power and promises when doubts and uncertainties creep in my heart and mind. The Church is where hope is heard and hope is reinforced as we do church together!
Second: We need each other to move us toward love and good deeds.
The Christian life isn’t a competition. But like a sports team encourages one another to get rid of practices that hinder their performance and engage in habits that allow them to perform at their best, we as Christians need the same from each other. We need the gentle rebuke when we are engaging in behavior that moves us away from reflecting Christ. We need a partner at times to learn and work together to show the love of Christ to others. The Church is where we get to do life together, putting our Christian faith into practice and encouraging others to do the same.
Third: We need encouragement from each other as we get closer to Christ’s return.
Have you noticed that being a Christian and standing up for Christian values, beliefs, and habits is growing increasingly unpopular? Jesus warned us that as the time of his return grows closer. Remember what he said?
9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. (Matthew 24:9-13).
No wonder the writer to the Hebrews said, “Don’t give up meeting together!” We need each other and to be there with other Christians to encourage one another as Satan works hard to discourage us. The Church is God’s design and gift to us to do just that.
Thank you Lord for the gift of your Church and making me, all of us, part if it as a gift of your Holy Spirit and the work of your son, Jesus Christ!
Apply: Which of the three blessings of the Church do you need most right now? Which do you feel someone at your church needs from you?
Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, the Church’s head, You are her one foundation
In you she trusts, before you bows, and waits for your salvation.
Built on this rock secure, Your Church shall endure
Though all the worlds decay and all things pass away, Oh, hear, oh, hear us, Jesus
O Lord, let this your little flock, Your name alone confessing.
Continue in your loving care, True unity possessing
Your sacraments, O Lord, And your saving Word
To us e’er pure retain Grant that they may remain Our only strength and comfort.
(CW 536:1,2 “Lord Jesus Christ, the Church’s Head”)