As a lot of you know, I write these sermons eight weeks out. When I finish writing one, I put it in my "Sermons In Progress" file and then essentially don't look at it again until the Monday before I am to preach it the following Sunday. So for "Human Nature," I wrote it in early September, but didn't look at it again until this past Monday, November 2. When I did, I felt God was in it.  I liked the exegesis, the content, the intersection, and the flow.  I especially felt like it had potential for people to respond to it by giving their lives to Jesus. And on Sunday, many did. Here it is."Human Nature," a sermon with this bottom line: It's no accident that you're on purpose.   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I love this thing I’m going to tell you today because I get to do a scientific experiment along with it AND if you all are good, I’m going to do a demonstration to boot. Are you all cool with that?   But all that excitement is coming in a little bit. Before we get there, we get to excavate Psalm 8 for a few moments, which is great stuff because Psalm 8 is a song of rare and sacred majesty. And if you’ve been a) here and b) paying attention you may remember that two weeks ago we started Only Human with this psalm. But I knew then that there was way too much here for one week. Especially if we were going to call one of these messages Human Nature . . . I knew we’d have to have some marvelous excavation time together.   Because would you like to know what is especially great about Psalm 8 (aside from my rhyme)? It is in many ways the Readers Digest version of, the Twitterized version of, the Cliff’s Notes version of . . . Genesis 1. You remember Genesis 1? In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth . . . And that particular hymn goes from there to craft this intricate structure of realms and rulers. Realms like the sky and the sea and the land & rulers like the birds and the fish and the animals. It’s not pretending to be a science book but instead a highly structured yet thoroughly beautiful (its structure IS its beauty) song about the WHO and the WHY of creation (not the “how” and “when”).       It all culminates with the realm of earth (Day 3) ruled ultimately by man (Day 6) who has been created in God’s image and about whom God declared very good. The ultimate divine pat on the back. Him? My image. Which means? Not just good. Very good. So you’re glad for that quick tour into the first words of the first book in the library, I know, but you’re also like “yada yada yada … what does this have to do with Psalm 8?” Only everything. Look at 8:1:   Notice: set his glory. Almost like “let there be light” and it’s clear that God has established the boundaries of creation and there is an order to it & yet within boundaries & order his glory is the one thing that is constant. Then in 8:2 we get this cool, perplexing stuff about babies and enemies – READ – before returning to the work of creation in 8:3: Through the praise of children and infants     you have established a stronghold against your enemies,     to silence the foe and the avenger. ³ When I consider your heavens,     the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars,     which you have set in place, We saw a couple of weeks ago how the galaxies are actually God’s finger painting! Then follows the awe-struck, poignant, reverent Q&A of 8:4-5:   All that is mere table-setting, groundwork for what happens in 8:6: You made him ruler over the works of your hands;     you put everything under his^[g] feet:   See that?! Rulers & realms! All realms, big ruler! People rule, people! Then a reiteration in 8:7-8: all flocks and herds,     and the animals of the wild, ⁸ the birds in the sky,     and the fish in the sea,     all that swim the paths of the seas.    All these animals are stronger, faster, hungrier, fly-ier, heavier . . . and yet humans will rule. Human nature involves some ruling over nature. There is order, structure, design in Psalm 8 that mimics the order, structure, and design that is in nature & in human nature. Realms and rulers, patterns and systems, design and function and Psalm 8, like Genesis 1 before it!, puts it all to music. And then it is book ended in 8:9 with the same words that opened it in 8:1:   Lord, our Lord,     how majestic is your name in all the earth! But what I want you to see and hopefully appreciate in all this is the careful ordering and structuring of it all. Add to that the breathtaking affirmation of Ps 139 and it’s crystal clear what God’s take on our human nature is . . . and it’s a much needed take. Because here’s what people subconsciously assume about themselves and others. It’s like this. Look at all this stuff I have here in the bucket. I have some screws, springs, belts, sprockets, batteries.  Nice pile of stuff here! Now I’m going to take all these ingredients, shake them up good, throw them up in the air like this (DO IT) and what comes out, randomly, willy-nilly, accidentally? A perfect Rolex watch! Endorsed by Roger Federer! All these divine elements get mixed together, jumbled in the air & ordered perfection emerges. Well that’s absurd, of course. That would never happen. Ridiculous. And yet that’s what so many of us think about ourselves, our lives, our race, our role in the planet. This is not some anti-evolution rant and I’m no young earth creationist . . . BUT so much of that kind of God-less thinking has infiltrated our minds. We subtly begin to think of life as random or absurd, we think of ourselves as mistakes or as in the way or even incidental, we come to view human nature with a mixture of fatalism and contempt. "Boys will be boys."  But when you see the implausibility of that experiement – you throw up a bunch of parts and a watch comes out? – you lay it side by side with the careful ordering & structure of Psalm 8 and it becomes blindingly clear what God’s take is on human nature:  See, what is true in the general and universal is true in the personal and particular. You are on purpose! And everything we rule in Psalm 8 is to remind us we have a ruler! Every realm we have points us to the realm that has us. Every reminder we get that we’re made in the imago Dei, the image of God, is to show us that there is a Dei. We’re made so there is a Maker!  It’s no accident that you’re on purpose. And that includes all of you, no exceptions! Many of you know that I’m the youngest of 8. And I am way younger than the other 7. In fact, #7 is seven years older than me. My dad was 50 and my mom was 46 when I was born. All that combines to make me have the realization that I was . . . unexpected. An afterthought. Actually, not a thought. A WOOOPS! And when I was a teenager, I had learned about these sorts of things, done some match, and realized how improbable my very existence was. So one time I was with my mom in a public setting, she was talking to a friend about her family and her 8th Davis (me) and I chimed in, “Yeah, I was a mistake.” And my mother, God bless her, had the nicest answer: “No, not a mistake. A pleasant surprise.”   Oh, that’s it. I’m looking out at a room full of pleasant surprises and not a mistake in the bunch. Regardless of appearance, ability, need, special need, not a mistake in the bunch. It’s no accident that you’re on purpose.   Now please don’t hear what I’m not saying. This is not “God has a plan for my life.” This is not “you’re here for a purpose and all you have to do is find YOUR purpose and all your dreams will come true. None of that. And when I say It’s no accident that you’re on purpose it’s not that your purpose here is to be your true self, to be true to yourself, to discover your authentic self. None of that me-centered babble.   Instead, It’s no accident that you’re on purpose  is only understood in light of the bookends of Psalm 8!! Verses 1 & 9!  Oh! I’m here on purpose but my great goal in life is not to discover MINE. It’s to surrender to HIS! It’s not that God has a plan for your life. It’s that God has a plan for life. You arrange yours accordingly. Maybe better, as one pastor friend told me: God has my life for his plan. There’s a world of difference there! And it is the kind of difference you know and sense and celebrate when you see the bookends (inclusion) of Psalm 8:1 & 9! What a relief that it’s not about you! What a privilege that it is about him! It’s no accident that you’re on purpose. In a real way, the question hinges on whether you begin your understanding of human nature at Genesis 1 or Genesis 3. If Genesis 3 is your starting point, human nature is by virtue of the Fall (eaten fruit) is sinful, hell bound, worm like. But if Genesis 1 is the starting point – image of God, VERY GOOD! – then human nature is royal, blessed, dignified, purposeful & the role of church & God & Jesus is to help recapture what was lost in fruit-eating. I don’t know about you, but I’m going with THAT. Just think about how much better it is to talk about letting people know how deeply they are loved rather than how quickly they will be damned. The bible is a library but Genesis is a book and to understand human nature, I’m starting at the beginning. It’s like this $100. A Benjamin! (I’m hip!) How much is it worth? Drop. Now how much? Fold. Now how much? Now stomp. Now how much? Now ball up. Now how much. Still $100! You, too! Because your value isn’t determined by what’s been done TO you; it’s determined by what Jesus did FOR you. Your identity comes from his invasion in history. You’ve been died for, resurrected in, and loved on. You’re not random, you’re not happenstance. You are on purpose. It’s no accident that you’re on purpose. My gosh, this is why I so believe that in Christ you have the ability to rise above the sexual confusion in our culture! According to our culture, if you feel it you gotta do it. If it’s natural to you, it must be good for you. You know what that treats us like? Dogs in heat. They don’t have a choice. They do act on every impulse. But they’re not made in the image of God. You are. They’re not reserved for that place of beautiful vulnerability called marriage. You are. Their purpose is their next impulse. Yours is the bookend of the Lord’s majestically global name. It’s no accident that you’re on purpose. Here’s the truth: Some of you are entirely too casual with God. You call him The Man Upstairs. You figure God and I are good. You think He meets me on the golf course on Sundays. You believe he’s lucky to have a nice guy like you on his team and your niceness is your ticket to heaven, a really nice place. God’s really just a big, stronger version of . . . YOU. You know what you need? The bookends of Psalm 8. The awestruck humility that comes from understanding my identity comes from his invasion of history. Every thing I have and every breath I take is a GIFT. My WHO comes from his WHAT. It’s no accident that you’re on purpose. And then others of you are at the other end of the spectrum. You feel your life has no value. You can’t get out of bed in the morning. It might be depression. It might be something more clinical. Or less. Your human nature is gloom. You know what you need? 8:3-4: READ. Oh! I’m a ruler! I may be flawed by I’m royal! I’m royally flawed! I’ve been stomped on and stepped over but I’m a Benjamin, if not more! REFRAIN. Every moment you live, every decision you make, every act of goodness & kindness you’re part is pregnant with meaning and rich in purpose. Just. Like. You. It’s no accident that you’re on purpose.

As I posted last week, my friend and colleague James-Michael Smith is leading "Let's Talk About Sex," a four week class on developing a mature, biblical sexual ethic. Last night's session focused on The Song Of Songs and was titled, appropriately enough, Hot Bible Sex. A literal rendering of the name of that Old Testament erotic opera is "The Songiest Song"; meaning, the best song ever.  By the way, in September of 2014, I gave a series of sermons on The Song Of Songs called Love Song.  You can see those messages here. Here are some of James-Michael's winners from last night:

• The sad truth is that with all those concubines, Solomon was a human trafficker.
• You have to know the culture that surrounds any song to make sure you don't read too much into it.
• How does a book this overtly sexual get into the bible?  We give bibles to third graders!  And tell them to read it!
• Song 1:9:  "I liken you to a mare among Pharoah's horses."  At first glance it's not too flattering to call a woman a horse.  But do you know what a mare among Pharoah's horses did?  Egypt and its Pharoah had chariots, which made them invincible in battle.  So the Jews would release a mare in heat into the middle of Egyptian chariots.  All of a sudden the Egyptian horses were . . . distracted!  So the song writer is telling his beloved that she is a "head turner."
• What happens in the bedroom is private.  But the relational context (marriage) is very public.
• In married sex, two image bearers of God come together.
• The Song contains unashamed appreciation of the other person's body.
• The guy in 5:14 has guns:  "His arms are like rods of gold."
• Sexuality is our Garden of Eden.  How are we treating our Garden?  Who are we letting into it?  Who are we locking out of it?

 

Many if not most of you have never heard of Mike Campbell, who is the lead guitarist of Tom Petty's Heartbreakers. He didn't play The Star Spangled Banner at Woodstock like Jimi Hendrix. He didn't play the mind-bending solo on Heartbreaker like Jimmy Page. No one ever called him "god" as they did Eric Clapton. Yet I think I like him better than each of those other, higher profile, guitar heroes. And here are five reasons why: 5.  He co-wrote Don Henley's Heart Of The Matter.  Henley's the lyricist, Campbell's the composer and rock beauty is the result.  Watch out for the combination later in the list. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSLNYZ5rIEM 4.  Learning To Fly.  Delicate, athemic, and Campbell knows it's Tom's show, not his. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxXBhKJnRR8 3.  Listen To Her Heart.  Shimmering, jangling, new wave rock at its frenetic best. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy2JE1BFQ24 2.  Breakdown.  In Campbell's world a guitar solo is not to highlight the player but to advance the song.  I love the way it works here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNxfPAF1frM 1.  He wrote the music for The Boys Of Summer.  Legend has it that he offered the composition first to Tom Petty who was, for various reasons, unable to do anything with it.  He then approached Henley  and the result is my favorite song of all time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6z_NfTe6SI

How to motivate a church to be radically generous? How to inspire people to pick up and then fill up thousands of shoe boxes with Operation Christmas Child? How to put in "only human" language the idea of "to whom much is given, much is required"? Those question were in my mind in conceiving and designing "Human Touch," a sermon with this bottom line:  You're touched locally so you can touch globally. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the early 1900s, Dr. Emmet Holt, at the time one of the leading pediatricians in the US (the Dr. Spock of his gen) decided that American parents were spoiling their children by cuddling and touching them too much. Good parents of that time noticed his advice and began what they called the “hands-off” approach to raising kids. That may have been the way you was raised. The problem was that just a few years after Dr. Holt’s methods became popular, doctors began reporting a dramatic increase in the number of infant deaths . . . especially in babies who appeared otherwise healthy. It turns out that a clear “failure to thrive” happens when young children don’t have enough human contact through physical touch. Subsequent studies about touch deprivation in orphanages in countries like Russia and China have proved the point time and again. To touch is to live and to live is to touch. There is something “only human” about touching & being touched. And it’s really striking when you think about touch fits into the strategy of what we do at GSUMC. We touch every seat in this room in prayer at 7:30 a.m. At our Healing Services (AV), we touch and pray over ppl and their requests. At our Sam’s Feet Foot Washing experiences we touch ppl in some of their most vulnerable locales – feet! – as a way of replicating what Jesus did (AV). We even call our BTH ministry “high touch, low threat” and if no one is there, we’ll touch the house & pray! We might have touched your house! Over and over, we use this intimate yet appropriate means of human touch to invite all ppl into a living rel w/ Jesus Christ. And I say this as a guy with some personal space issues! Chances are you’ve been touched here. But you know as well as I do that to be “touched” goes far beyond the physical. Like one of my favorite ppl in the whole world will come up to me after a good Sunday & in her deep Southern accent: “that was so touchin’” Yes! You know what I’m saying. You’re touched by a song. Touched by images. And have you noticed how when you combine music with visual the touch is that much more profound? Sometimes you get touched by your emotions & Hollywood really knows how to manipulate you – like I cannot watch that closing scene from Hope Floats w/o bawling & I never lived through a divorce! Then other times the touch is directly from the Holy Spirit – not always pleasant or comforting but more like a jolt from above. And I quite believe that the Spirit often uses physical touch to convey his spiritual touch. He is hands on! And it’s been going on a long time. In the opening scene of the book of Jeremiah – a prophet writing and speaking in about 600 BC and addressing a culture in the midst of total disintegration – we read this in 1:9: ⁹ Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth.   Ah, the touch on the lips. The same thing happens to Isaiah in 6:7: READ. And look at this pattern in Jesus’ ministry: READ Matthew 8:3, 9:21, 9:29-30. So the repetition communicates EVERYTHING to us: human touch conveys divine love. God employs this tactile, divine spirit to human skin touch. And so the question becomes why? When we talk about Only Human, when we consider what it all means on this OCC kick-off Sunday, why so much divine spirit touching human skin? And that’s a question that takes us back into the Jeremiah story. Look at Jeremiah 1:5a: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew^[a] you,     before you were born I set you apart;   See that? Set apart in the womb. You combine that with Psalm 139 and the beautiful truth emerges that the womb is the home of a person who is known to God and wanted by God. I am overwhelmed by the prenatal love & care & touch . . . and grieved at how what God carefully knits together Planned Parenthood carelessly shreds apart. What God forms, PP sells. What God creates, man destroys. God help us. But for you, who were allowed to be born! . . . even if you weren’t wanted by your parents, you were wanted by God. And here Jeremiah was not only wanted, but set apart, chosen, ELECT! It’s funny – some Xns speak of the elect or the chosen (the Frozen Chosen). And we are. BUT ELECT DOES NOT EQUAL ELITE! We (& Jeremiah before us) are chosen for sacrifice not privilege. For responsibility not rest.   And then look at 1:5c: I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Ah, from backward, disintegrating hovel of a land a message will be broadcast to all the nations and Jeremiah is the one to do it?! Unlikely, improbable, impossible. But look at 1:10 if you doubt that that concept is the core of Jeremiah’s entire calling: ¹⁰ See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”   Again, nations. You who are just a local yokel from a disintegrating country have a message that’s gonna touch lands all over the world. You’re going to tell God’s truth to the nations. And the realized that it has HAPPENED. How do I know? We’re talking about it and him today! 2600 years later! Against all odds Jeremiah is still talked about and his words still penetrate lands all across the globe. And so it becomes clear what this whole touch thing is all about. Why God goes to the trouble of touching this man’s lips so that his words would ultimately become worldwide phenomenon: You’re touched locally so you can touch globally. Because I don’t believe the whole phenomenon of people loved in the womb, of people set apart for a purpose, of people receiving the touch of God . . . . none of that stopped with Jeremiah! See, today, God touches you by stirring you with compassion. You see an OCC video, you discover about hunger overseas, you learn about human trafficking, and your heart goes out. Your emotions get riled up and so you have been touched by God to do something to alleviate the suffering going on some other “only humans” out there. Or God touches you by calming your fears. You come in here full of anxiety and uncertainty, you’re not sure you gonna make it, and then something gets sung or something gets said, and all of a sudden you feel love washing over you. You. Are. Loved. And it touches you. And in that being touched you then want to touch others so that others living in the same chaos can experience the same peace. Or God touches you by jolting you into action. I knew 9 years ago when I first became aware of human trafficking: GS is being called to do something. And boy have we. My point is that he touches you in here so you can then touch out there. And my gosh, does any ministry give us a better, more tangible opportunity than this one? OCC with its gifts, its boxes, and, most importantly, its gospel opportunities? You’re touched by kids – some of whom won’t have a Xmas and more of whom have never heard of Xmas – and then you have this incredible, transformative opportunity to touch them.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oel_Gt4Ync And the modern world makes it so incredibly easy to do. Like tradition has it that St. Thomas – the same one who was originally Doubting Thomas – is the one who brought Xnty to India. Do you have any idea what kind of arduous trip he must have taken to get to India? It’s funny. I got to India almost every year. And I complain if I’m not in Biz Class with one of those seats that becomes a bed (AV). With a hot towel! But Thomas would be like, “You’re in a flying cylinder?! And 20 hrs later you’re in India?! It took me a year! And you have toilets?! I had to . . . Well, we don’t really want to know that one. But the point is that today it is easier than ever to You’re touched locally so you can touch globally. And I love love love in Jeremiah how this propulsive touch is tied to the womb (1:5). His human nature. Guess what? I don’t want to appeal to your guilt in this OCC Radical Impact Project. I want to appeal to your potential! I don’t want to lord it over you. I want to unleash it from within you! Because you are human, just a little lower than angels (for now), crowned with glory, I want all you “only humans” to live up to your potential to give gospel opportunities to other “only humans.” That you don’t do it out of a sense of obligation but of a privilege. Not a have to do boxes but I get to! I believe we can blow it up in 2015 with 3500 boxes or more. Not because we’re a bunch of oppressed, guilt ridden scum of the earth but because we are a collection of liberated saints living into the fullness of what it means to be human beings! Humans who long to touch the physical lives and eternal destinies of other humans! Because I have seen you all do some incredible things with your touch. Remember this? AV Stop Hunger Now ’14. You all packed – sorting, pouring, packing, TOUCHING – 254,000 meals in one glorious morning. Tremendous outpouring. We were part of what was called the Million Meal March. And that was about 18 months ago now. So proud of you. Anyway, a few weeks ago, I got this email out of the blue from a Presbyterian Church in Raleigh: (And show AV throughout) Talbot – The Guatemala Mission Team from the Kirk of Kildaire Presbyterian church in Cary, NC has been making trips twice a year to the village of Pala in the mountains of Guatemala. We have been doing so on a regular basis since 2008. Pala is a village of Mayans, the indigenous people of Guatemala. Their isolation and low social status within the country has created a condition of poverty, very limited education, and very little hope for economic opportunities outside of being agricultural workers. The Kirk chose to “adopt” the village as an international mission initiative and began to develop a series of programs that would provide a holistic approach to issues of education, community health and economic development. One of the programs implemented was a school lunch program, in which we serve as a partner to Stop Hunger Now. For four days of week, every child attending school gets a warm and nutritious meal provided to them. Our team was in Pala this past week and observed lunch being served to a multitude of elementary school age kids. The Stop Hunger Now food boxes were labeled as being packaged by the Good Shepherd United Methodist Church of Charlotte, NC. The purpose of this email is confirm to your congregation that the meals were ultimately delivered to the village of Pala and provided as intended. But, I also want your congregation to understand the impact the meals are having. Having known and observed the kids over period of about 2 years in which the SHN lunch program has been in place, I have observed that the children just look better. Their eyes are a little brighter, their hair glossier and their skin clearer. And the kids just seem happier. The teachers in the local school tell us that enrollment has increased, attendance is more consistent, student performance has improved, and behavior problems have declined. So on behalf of the Kirk Guatemala Mission team, and I’m sure the entire Stop Hunger Now organization would feel the same, thank you for the support. For the effort it took to organize and package the meals and for the financial support you provided. It is making a difference. Look at what all you Only Humans did! Let’s do it again.