The First Word SERMON BY REV. DOUG PRATT DECEMBER 29, 2013 FROM FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF BONITA SPRINGS

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1 The First Word FROM FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF BONITA SPRINGS SERMON BY REV. DOUG PRATT DECEMBER 29, 2013 Don t Make this Mistake! It happened on a cool September evening, early in the 20 th century, in a little coastal village in Maine. Nearly all the townspeople had gathered for an urgent town meeting. Things were looking very bleak for their community s economy, and one by one the citizens stood to lament their troubles. The local fishery had recently closed down, there were few jobs to be had, and the town treasury was about empty. People heard gloomy reports that the library would have to be boarded up, the town policeman laid off, the fire wagon sold, and perhaps even the elementary school closed. And that would be the end of the town everyone would move out. All sorts of ideas about what to do were proposed and promptly shot down. Emotions were raw as neighbors turned on one another. A stranger, strolling through the town at twilight, had dropped in on the meeting and quietly took a seat in the back. When the debate among the townspeople reached a fever pitch and tempers were hot, the tall, well-dressed stranger stood to his feet, cleared his throat, and said, Perhaps I can help you. But he was immediately hooted down by the crowd, who were all stubborn Yankees and could tell by the intruder s mid-western accent that he wasn t one of them. Forget it, they shouted. We don t need any advice from some stranger. We ll solve our own problems. And they went back to arguing. The stranger shrugged his shoulders and silently slipped out the back door, unnoticed and unmissed. A local fisherman, coming in

2 late from a long day at sea, arrived just as the tall stranger was leaving. The fisherman listened to the frustrating debate for awhile, then finally interrupted. Didn t that man I saw leaving give our town anything? No, the townspeople said, we told him we didn t want his advice. Don t you realize what you ve done? the fisherman demanded. I saw his yacht anchored in the bay as I came in tonight. That was John D. Rockefeller. The great philanthropist could have written a single check to solve that town s problems; and he confided to a friend later that he would have done so, had he been asked. But those foolish citizens never bothered to discover who he really was. I have met so many Christians in my pastoral ministry who are making the same mistake with God: they haven t bothered to find out who He really is, haven t really gotten to know Him. All of the help and blessings and comfort and strength He can offer them is ignored, because they don t realize it s available to them. All the fullness of what Jesus calls an abundant life could be theirs, but they never ask for it. They re so preoccupied with their problems that they don t recognize the solution their Heavenly Father is offering them. If you leave here at the end of a worship service feeling just as worried or discouraged or fearful or guilty or anxious as when you came, it s not God s fault. He is right here, ready to help you where you re hurting, to touch you at your point of greatest need. But we have to realize who He is before we can receive His gifts. Scripture Reading Our scripture for today is Psalm 111. This is one of the many portions of the Bible that tell us about who God really is. As we read this, see if you can pick up the clues about what God is like and how we should respond to Him. Praise the Lord! I will thank the Lord with all my heart as I meet with his godly people. 2

3 2 How amazing are the deeds of the Lord! All who delight in him should ponder them. 3 Everything he does reveals his glory and majesty. His righteousness never fails. 4 He causes us to remember his wonderful works. How gracious and merciful is our Lord! 5 He gives food to those who fear him; he always remembers his covenant. 6 He has shown his great power to his people by giving them the lands of other nations. 7 All he does is just and good, and all his commandments are trustworthy. 8 They are forever true, to be obeyed faithfully and with integrity. 9 He has paid a full ransom for his people. He has guaranteed his covenant with them forever. What a holy, awe-inspiring name he has! 10 Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true wisdom. All who obey his commandments will grow in wisdom. Praise him forever! Studying God There is no question that our modern world has advanced human knowledge in many fields. In the past couple hundred years we ve replaced ignorance with understanding in so many disciplines: medicine, biology, nuclear physics, meteorology, chemistry, and technology. It is tempting to pat our generation on our collective backs and congratulate ourselves at how smart and sophisticated we are. But in one intellectual field theology, the knowledge and understanding of God we may have actually taken some steps backwards in our lifetimes. People in the broader society are certainly less familiar with the Bible than they were 100 or 50 years ago. So many are morally and ethically confused by the images and role models they see in movies and soap operas and rock music. We seem more ignorant than ever about who God really is, and about His will for our lives. 3

4 The curious thing about the study of God is that the more we learn about Him, the bigger He becomes. The more we know, in fact, the more we are humbled by the limitations on our ability to know Him fully He is that great. This is a truth that one of the greatest Christian writers, C.S. Lewis, revealed in an interesting way. In one of the books of the fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia, the English children return on a second visit to the magical kingdom of Narnia the land ruled by the great Lion Aslan, the True King, who represents God. As Lucy is walking alone through the woods, she unexpectedly comes upon Aslan. Welcome, child, He says gently to her. But Lucy steps back in surprise and fear. 4 Oh, Aslan, you re so much bigger than you were before, she cries. That is because you are older, little one, He replies. I have not changed. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger. The simple but profound truth Lewis reminds us of is that the more we grow in our faith and our understanding of God, the bigger He becomes. Our scripture text, Psalm 111, tells us something about the greatness or bigness of God. It s just one of many such portions of the Bible. As I meditated through these 10 verses, I jotted down a list of all the things that we can learn about the One who created us who comes to us. Here is my partial list of the qualities of God. The Lord is glorious and majestic (far greater than words or music could ever capture). He is righteous and good (there is not a single cruel or imperfect or filthy thought in His great mind). He is also gracious and compassionate (and it s a good thing, since you and I fall so far short of His standards). He meets His people s needs. He is all-powerful and can do whatever He wills. He is faithful and absolutely trustworthy (always keeping His word and His promises).

5 He is our Redeemer (the One who purchased our freedom from sin and guilt by paying a great price for us). He is totally holy and worthy of all praise. He is eternal and infinite (unbound by our human limits). Just try to wrap your brain around all of those thoughts it s mindboggling! And God is not distant and aloof from us (busying Himself somewhere in another corner of the universe). No, He actually cares enough about us and our little world to reach down and be intimately involved with us. That s how we really see what He s like and get to know Him by what He does for us and in us. Psalm 111 repeatedly reminds us that we know about God s character (who He is) primarily by His actions (what He does). And this is true of human beings as well, of course. How do we know that Michelangelo was an artistic genius? By seeing his works displayed on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. How do we know that Mother Teresa was a woman of great compassion? By witnessing the orphanages she built in the slums of Calcutta and in other vast cities of the Third World. We know a person s character by his or her actions. And that is certainly true of God. Who He is finds its expression in what He does. We have the account of His actions in history recorded in the pages of scripture. And we see His actions in our own time, in our lives and those of others in this church, and in believers around the world. Responding to God So how should we respond to such a great God? There are two natural and appropriate responses. The first is to get to know Him better. Verse 2 of our Psalm says, How amazing are the deeds of the Lord! All who delight in Him should ponder them. The reason why many of us have committed ourselves to become lifelong learners as Christians is that there is always so much more to learn. To ponder or study God with an end of knowing Him better is what we are called to do. It is interesting to note that this very verse is carved in stone above the doorway of the world-famous Cavendish Laboratory at 5

6 Cambridge University in England the place where generations of brilliant and famous physicists, including Stephen Hawking, have applied their minds to discovering the secrets of God and His creation. We may not all be called to serve as physicists, but we are all at least freshman-level students of God and His character and His actions. We learn about Him by pondering the evidence in scripture and in Christian books. And we learn about Him personally not as students in a laboratory or classroom but on our knees, as we humbly open our life to Him daily and walk in fellowship and trust with Him through the challenges of our times. The other way to respond to God s greatness and His love for us is through a life of obedience to Him. The final verse of Psalm 111 says, Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom. The Hebrew word for fear does not mean what you think it means. It really means reverence or respect, not cowering in terror the way teenagers in a horror movie cower from a monster. There is no need to fear God in that way not when we understand how much He loves us, and what He has done to save us and help us. To truly respect and reverence Him means to worship Him. We worship God in a certain way when we gather here each week. Our worship includes singing together, and it involves the study of His Word. But we also reverence God the other 6½ days a week when we re away from this place. We can worship Him through music, as we listen to a Christian CD or radio (and maybe sing along even if it s a bit offkey). We worship when we read a Christian book or the Bible on our own, or listen to a Christian message while we re driving somewhere, or talk to God silently. We worship God in our daily lives as we choose to resist temptation and do what s right, and as we share our faith and encourage a friend. In all of these ways we obey the biblical command to fear God. As one writer has put it, The person who truly and properly fears the Lord has nothing else in all the world to fear. 6

7 It is my hope and prayer that you will make it your lifetime quest to get to know God better, and to fear and worship Him at all times. A great writer and communicator of the late 19 th century, Rev. Charles Spurgeon, issued a challenge to the educated and sophisticated people of his congregation in metropolitan London a challenge that likewise speaks to us more than a century later: Apply your mind to the highest science, the most lofty study of all: the study of God. It is a subject so vast that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity. He who often thinks of God will have a larger mind than the person who simply plods around this narrow globe, thinking only of earthly things. Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of a person, as a devout and continued investigation of the greatest subject of all: the Lord God Almighty. Become a Lifelong Explorer The tale is told of a Spanish explorer wandering in the wilderness of the New World, the western hemisphere. He came upon a mountain stream and decided to follow it. The stream flowed downhill until it emptied into a river. The explorer followed that river on, and it joined with another and became wider and deeper. Finally he rounded a bend and saw that the river emptied out into the vast blue Pacific Ocean. Starting with that little trickling stream, his quest led him to more water than his mind could ever grasp. I think that s like the journey of the Christian pilgrimage. We may start out knowing very little about God just a tiny, trickling stream. But if we keep at it, keep exploring and discovering Him more and more, we will finally reach the vast ocean of His immense greatness and holiness and goodness, His infinite love. So, be an explorer! Discover who God really is. Get to know Him personally and intimately. It s a lifelong quest that will bring you unimaginable blessings! 9751 Bonita Beach Road Bonita Springs, Florida fpcbonita.org