The Body: What are you worth?

In this series of posts, I am taking material from children's Sunday School, talking about a few of the wonders of the human body. Much of the material comes from Bill Bryson's book, The Body, along with a little research from other sources.

But this is not a book report. It is an attempt to use some of these "wonders" to illustrate spiritual truths.

And so, this first lesson, "What are you worth?"

In Jr. High (yes, way back when they called it Jr. High rather than Middle School) one of my teachers said that the materials of the human body were worth a few dollars and cents, something less than five dollars. Well, the Royal Academy of Science in England did their own study, and determined that it would cost more like $150,000 to purchase the elements in their proper forms to build the human body.

There would be lots of oxygen and hydrogen, about 61% of the human body. You would need to purchase 30 pounds of carbon (for an adult male). And then there are a whole bunch of other elements in tiny quantities. Some of them are very expensive, but since you would need so little, it would not count all that much.

But, spread all these ingredients out on a work bench, you still do not have a human being. You do not have anything like human life. You have "the dust of the ground" containing various elements or minerals.

So, what are you worth? The answer, clearly, is neither $5 nor $150,000. Because the pile of "stuff" on the table is not you; it is not a person. And further, your worth is not found in your parts; it's found if whatever "you" is.

What is a human "you"? It is a creature made in the image of God, called man and woman. It is the creature who is created alongside other animals, living souls who are the crown of creation, built to walk in fellowship with God and to steward His creation. 

Our value, then, is found in the One who made us; and the One who loves us. He loves us, not because we have good hair or good skin, but because He loves us. It is not what we, His creation, have available to us any good thing to offer Him, our Creator, since He stands in need of nothing. It is not in the performance of duties, since every single ability we have comes from Him in the first place. He loves us because He loves us. We are valued by the King of the Universe.

But what if we are ugly? What if we are deformed, or damaged? First, God looks not on the outward appearance, but on the heart. And I would venture that many of those with external difficulties are more perfectly formed with an internal beauty. But again, He loves us, not because we are especially pleasing, but because He loves us.

And what about those days when we are so disappointing to ourselves, and we sure that we must be disappointing to God as well. Our own estimation about our worth drops so low, we wonder whether it is worth it to keep going. He loves us, not just when we feel love-able, but all the time, and perhaps especially when we feel most un-love-able. 

What about others, upon whom we look down? Doesn't God also look down on them? Not for a second. And since He doesn't, we had better knock it off as well. Just because you are attracted to someone doesn't make them more valuable to God; and just because you are turned off by someone else doesn't mean that they are less valuable to Him.

Our value is established, not by the Royal Academy of Chemistry, but by the God who created us and redeemed us. We are so valuable, He was willing to sacrifice His Son, Jesus, to have a relationship with us. He loves us. He loves you. His love establishes your worth.

Thinking in 3’s - Exodus 32: 8,12 - Two Quick Turns: Disastrous, and Gracious

Thinking in 3’s - Exodus 32: 8,12 - Two Quick Turns: Disastrous, and Gracious

Exodus 32 records the account of the stunning fall into idolatry by the people of God so soon after they had experienced the Exodus from Egypt, and in the midst of receiving the Law at the mountain of God.

We are accustomed to these departures into idolatry in the Old Testament. In the New Testament church, Gentile people are saved out of idolatry into faith in Christ. And yet John, at the end of his first epistle, says “Little children, guard yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21 NAS95). Evidently, it is still a problem, even for New Testament believers - for people like us.

The graphic details of their sin is played out in 3 acts: 1) "They have made for themselves a molten calf;” 2) “and have worshiped it;” 3) “and have sacrificed to it and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’” 1) They engaged in creative activity that, instead of building on the creative activity of God, perverted it; 2) they submitted themselves in worship to the work of their hands rather than to the living God; and 3) they invested themselves in this new worship with devotion and abandon. God’s description is that they “corrupted themselves;” “they have quickly turned aside from the way that I commanded them.”

Not only had they turned their back on God, their Redeemer. They also turned their back on any hope of safety in the present and inheritance in the future. They were willing to give up all the promises of God for one grand/gross party in the wilderness, after which they would die.

God seems immediately ready to write them off - no, wipe them out - and start over with Moses. Moses resists, and appeals to the reputation of God before the world. Moses offers a 3-fold entreaty to God that parallels somewhat (but different) the actions of the sinful people above. Moses says: 1) “Turn from Your burning anger;” 2) “and change Your mind about doing harm to Your people;” 3) “Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants…’.” Moses pleads with God, that 1) He turn from the divine activity of justice to another divine activity, that of mercy; 2) that rather than reject His people, He instead build into this redeemed people, giving Himself ever more fully over to them for their good, though they have acted very badly; and 3) that He fulfill His promises of old, and be true to His word, though the people are not true to theirs. And God says, “Yes.” 

Which collection of 3 is more stunning? The quick departure of the people away from God into idolatry? Or the rapid willingness of God to move from wrath to mercy? Perhaps we are no longer so shocked at the sinfulness of man. But may we be ever amazed at the mercies of God.

We must be more wary in our own day about ways in which we “make” lives for ourselves that are not the lives outlined for us by God, to be lived in worship and witness. We should be fearful of ways in which we submit in worldly devotion to practices, even forces, that draw us away from God. We  can easily “follow the money,” or chart our time, or examine our thoughts, to see that in which we are most heavily invested, and whether or not it be in things which are in keeping with walking with God and following Jesus.

And as the Spirit of God reveals these things to us - as we repent and “turn from our wicked ways,” we can be assured that God is there, ready to turn to us once again, not to harm, but to do good, and to continue His good work in us and with us, and to fulfill His promises. 

What If it Gets Worse instead of Better?

I know, pastors are expected by some to be happy, to promote happy thoughts. But I learn from pastors of the past to try to be as balanced as is the Bible. God’s Word is realistic about the judgments of God upon the nations, and it is honest about God’s discipline/correction of His people. 

We have an optimistic expectation that what is unpleasant now will get better - that we will return to “normal,” whatever that is. And that is the problem. We tend to take the blessings of God for granted, and to regard them as “normal.” 

I finished a book recently that suggests we have an irrational nostalgia for “the good old days.” For the left, that might be the rebellion and societal alterations that came about in the ’60’s. For the right, it might be somewhat later, perhaps associated with the Reagan revolution and the theme of limited government and lower taxes. Both sides are currently represented by aged representatives who are trying to take us back to “the good old days,” however defined. But we cannot go back. The clock only works in one direction. We can outline a preferred future, but we cannot return to a preferred past.

And so if our children no longer live as prosperously as their parents, what then? What if the pandemic gets worse instead of better? What if the economy falls apart? What if the strength of our nation continues to erode? What if those with whom we most vehemently disagree rise to power? What if the chastisement of God weighs heavily upon our nation, and upon the church? What then?

We must admit that we have a secularized view of “progress.” In America, “progress” means bigger and better. “Progress” means growth and success. In our minds, “progress” involves more, more, more - whether it be money, happiness pleasure, health, freedom autonomy. But what if there is not more, but less?

Perhaps, for the believer, a way forward is to remember what “progress” means from God’s perspective, for His people. What would it take for you and me to fear God more truly; to seek Him more earnestly; to love Him more freely; to obey Him more readily? Would it take something better, or worse? Would it take a little bit more, or some measure of less? We do not know. But God does. And He will do what is right. 

 “… Though the flock should be cut off from the fold And there be no cattle in the stalls, Yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.” (Habakkuk 3:17–18 NAS95)

Not to the Right or the Left

Ephesians 2:8 tells us: “For by grace you have been saved through faith;”. If salvation is important to us, then also should grace and faith be of importance. But the path of grace and faith is narrow. There are dangers, on the right, and on the left. 

Several years ago, Vince Hinzmann and I hiked Angels’ Landing at Zion National Park. As you can guess, the end of the hike (or, if you want to go home again, the halfway point) is a perch high up more suited, it seems, for angels than for men. But the part of the hike that was most difficult for me was a narrow section with a steep drop on either side - a quarter mile down to the parking lot on the right; a sharp drop to jagged rocks on the left. As I walked on this narrow path, it was as though there were a magnetic pull, one way or the other, as though staying dead center was most difficult. It may be that way with grace and faith.

Grace is sidled on the right by legalism, and on the left by license. The first danger involves adding duties alongside of grace as a means of gaining God’s favor, or perhaps, keeping God’s favor. But grace is the gift of God’s undeserved favor, all the favor that you will ever get or need - all of grace. Stepping off to the right is a departure from grace.

On the left is license (the old KJV used the word “licentiousness;" theologians use the word “antinomianism”). It is the idea that sin is no big problem in that forgiveness is free, and therefore sin is inconsequential. Once we understand that Christ actually died for our sin(s), then we can see the lie in that idea.

Grace should be celebrated, and its purity protected. We need clear understanding, and we must stay in the center of the path, going neither to the right or the left.

Faith, also, has a “right” and “left” danger. On the one side, we can doubt God’s goodness and care, and retreat into fear. Now fear is a difficult subject, in that we are clearly told to live in “the fear of the Lord,” though many of us have trouble explaining that concept without explaining it away. We should also remember Paul telling Timothy that God has not given us a Spirit of fear. Fear can eat away at our confidence, and erode our joy.

But on the left of faith is another danger: foolishness. The fool may well profess faith, but then live according to his own fallen senses, or simply follow the crowd that he follows. To wander off into fear or foolishness is to rob ourselves of the privilege of  walking by faith, not by sight, and of actually living, in the present moment, as believers - that is, people who live through faith.

So let’s help one another stay on the path, that most basic of Christian paths characterized by grace and faith. Let’s stay right on the center, and help others to do the same.