Text: Psalm 139:13-14
The Bible clearly identifies God as the creator of all things. Our text makes this personal as each one of us has been created by Him. We have been “fearfully and wonderfully made.” This statement teaches certain things about us, and certain mentalities and behaviors that have become common in our society are the result of forgetting this. It is critical that we understand what this passage is teaching given the condition of our society today.
Defining Terms
- Fearfully – signifies something that causes one to revere or stand in awe of something; the way God has formed each one of us is awe-inspiring and a reason to show reverence to Him
- Wonderfully – describes something that is distinguished or set apart; God created us to be special among all the other things He has made
What This Means for Us
- Because each one of us is a distinguished and awe-inspiring creation of God, we have…
- Worth – unlike other living things God created, we were made in His image (Genesis 1:26-27); each one of us is valuable enough for God to send His Son to redeem us (1 Peter 1:18-19)
- Identity – God knew us before we were formed in the womb (Psalm 139:16; Jeremiah 1:5); from the beginning He made “male and female” (Genesis 1:27; 2:18-22) to complement and support one another
- Place – God placed man over the creation (Genesis 1:28); yet man is still lower than the angels (Psalm 8:4-5) and God is infinitely higher than us (Isaiah 55:8-9)
- Purpose – God made us for a reason, to “fear God and keep His commandments” (Ecclesiastes 12:13); He created us to engage in the good works He prepared for us to do (Ephesians 2:10)
- We need to be teaching these truths to those around us AND reminding our brethren of these things – this is necessary because our society (as a whole) has forgotten or rejected these truths
When This Is Forgotten
- Many ideas and practices common in our society are directly opposed to our God-given sense of…
- Worth (Proverbs 22:2) – when a human life is devalued, what happens? … abortion, racism, elitism, class warfare
- Identity (Romans 1:26-27) – when our sense of identity does not line up with God’s design, what happens? … transgenderism, homosexuality
- Place (Ecclesiastes 3:19-21) – when we forget our place in God’s creation, what happens? … acceptance of evolution, atheism/humanism
- Purpose (Ecclesiastes 1:14; 2:9-11) – when we lose our sense of purpose and do not understand the meaning of life, what happens? … selfishness, aimlessness
- When people forget God, they are lost – when a society forgets God, it leads to these problems
Conclusion
- Why does our society look the way that it does? – people have forgotten that God is our creator
- Being created by God means each person has God-given worth, identity, place, and purpose
- We must continue to teach these things even as our society becomes more corrupt (Philippians 2:15-16)
