"Bless One Another" Colossians 3:16, James 3:15-16, Luke 6:28

Colossians 3:16
Let the words of Christ, in all their richness, live in your hearts and make you wise. Use his words to teach and counsel each other. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.
This sets up a basis for how we should speak to each other in a Christian community. This isn’t saying that we should only speak to each other by quoting Scripture and singing songs. Try and picture that in your mind. That’s some kind of very bizarre Broadway musical –everything you say here has to either be sung or quoted. But this isn’t a stage production, this is real life and if God’s Word has any meaning at all, it’s got to mean something in real life, not just in theory, so what does this mean?

This is teaching us that allowing the Word to dwell in us –to be a part of us –to be internalized so that it becomes the basis for our world-view will make us wise. So, speak to one another and relate to one another from a specifically Christian world-view. Encourage one another and bless one another with the wisdom that comes from knowing God, and the joy that comes from praising God. Our words to each other, then, should be encouraging and uplifting –they should be a welcome blessing. There is good, godly wisdom in speaking blessing into each other’s lives.

Contrast this with the worldy wisdom James speaks of in James 3:15-16:
For jealousy and selfishness are not God's kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and motivated by the Devil. For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and every kind of evil.

This worldy wisdom that drives us to curse others is all about selfish ambition and watching out for number one. It’s not even wisdom as we like to think of it –it’s more of a self-preservationist street-smarts. And because we live in the world where this street-smart kind of wisdom rules, it sometimes rubs off on us. We might find ourselves –even in church –watching out for our own interests. We might find ourselves angrily or selfishly speaking curses into the lives of brothers and sisters –although probably not out loud because we still like to keep up appearances. But, it’s not unusual, even in churches to hear people talking about each other behind one another’s back, spreading gossip, speaking ill. It’s kind of human nature and it’s so prevalent in the world, that this bad stuff sometimes creeps into the church.

That is how the culture of the world operates. But in the church, it is supposed to be different. The church by definition is counter-culture. At least it is by Jesus’ definition. Look at Jesus’ instruction to us.

Luke 6:28
Ask God to bless anyone who curses you, and pray for everyone who is cruel to you.

That’s not how it works out there, is it? But that is how it is supposed to work among Believers.
The world’s way is a way of self-seeking, self-serving, selfish ambition -looking out for number one. That is destructive. It harms us. But, God has given us the right and the responsibility to care for each other and pray for each other and speak healing and blessing into each other’s lives.

Our words are important –they matter –they make a difference. We can curse people and speak lies into their lives –or we can bless them and speak truth into their lives. We can build them up or we can tear them down. Knowing the importance of words and the affects they have, Paul encourages us to let the Word of Christ dwell in us –to be imbedded in us -to become part of us –and to speak to each other out of this specifically Christian world-view that develops as a result of knowing God and worshiping Him sincerely.

"Bear With One Another" Colossians 3:12-13

Colossians 3:12-13  “Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”

This is Paul’s instruction for Believer’s –The Church –Followers of Jesus.  Although we are being transformed and changed into the likeness of Jesus, none of us are the finished product.  Some days we seem more like Jesus than others.  In those moments when it is obvious to all that we have a ways to go, we are to bear with one another.

Maybe you’re wondering what it means to bear with one another –how do we do that?  Fortunately, it doesn’t say “bear with one another; you figure out how.”  It gives us the plan.  It tells us the steps, the ingredients that go into bearing with one another.  Bearing with one another involves compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

Interestingly, these are mostly the same ingredients that we find in Galatians 5:22-23.  There these ingredients are called “fruit of the Spirit.”  That means these are by-products of walking with Jesus –the Spirit filled life.  These by-products of living in the Spirit are a result of intimacy with God.  I’m sincerely hoping for a day when my natural responses to the circumstances of life consistently involve compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  But for now, I’m a little inconsistent.  So are you.  I’ve noticed.  For most of us, these things are not fully internalized, so Paul has a recommendation.  He tells us to clothe ourselves with them.

By definition, clothing ourselves with these fruit of the Spirit means that they are not yet fully internalized, but that we are able to recognize them, take hold of them, and apply them to the situations of our lives.  Clothing ourselves means applying externally something that is not fully internalized.

Think about that for a moment.  If w are told to clothe ourselves with these things –if we are told to take these things and put them on –apply them to our lives so that we can respond appropriately and redemptively to others –then I would say it’s possible for us to do that –wouldn’t you agree?  God is not asking us to do the impossible. 

What He tells us to do, He gives us the ability to do.  So, if He tell us to do this and He gives us the ability to do this, then we have a very real responsibility to do this.  When things aren’t going smoothly –when there is friction in the church –when somebody says something or does something hurtful.  This is what the Bible says to do: clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience so that we can bear with each other.

Sooner or later I’m bound to say something or do something that will really tick you off.  I’d apologize in advance if I could –but I don’t know exactly when or where this is going to happen –but I know that it is bound to happen.  And if I don’t say something or do something that irritates you, some other brother or sister will.  It will happen because we live in real life.   I’m not sure there is even anything we can do about that part of it.  We can’t stop real life from taking place.

When something annoying or hurtful is said or done, however, we have a choice about how we are going to respond.  We can choose to clothe ourselves with compassion.  We can choose to put on kindness.  We can choose to wrap ourselves up in humility.  And we can choose to cover ourselves with gentleness.  We can choose to robe ourselves in patience. We have the ability to bear with each other through stressful times. 

And why do we want to bear with each other?  Because we love each other –because we are a community of grace -because this is the church God wants us to be.

"No Room" Luke 2:7

"She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn."  Luke 2:7

A few hundred years before Jesus was born, the prophet, Micah, had foretold that the Jewish Messiah was to be born in the village of Bethlehem.  Mary and Joseph, the man to whom Mary was engaged, both lived in Nazareth.  Nazareth was about 70 miles north of Bethlehem.  Although 70 miles may not seem like a significant distance to us today but, considering that the countryside between Nazareth and Bethlehem was wilderness with very few inns or villages along the way, and considering that the only way to travel was by foot, it certainly must have seemed like a long way to Mary and Joseph.  In fact, although Bethlehem was the place where both of their ancestors had lived –neither of them would ever have made this trip by choice –especially with Mary being 9 months pregnant.  But they had no choice.  The Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus, had demanded that all Jewish people must return to their ancestral homes to be counted and to give an account of personal wealth for taxation.  So Joseph, and his young, pregnant fiancée walked the long, difficult journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem.

Unfortunately, when they finally arrived, they found that the sleepy little village of Bethlehem was the ancestral home to a lot of people.  Since Bethlehem was normally a village of just a few hundred, they were not at all equipped to provide for the several thousand people who arrived for the census.  Every home was filled, the local inn was filled, and still more people arrived daily.
To those who had found lodging, it must have been somewhat festive.  I’m sure there was a good deal of drinking and singing and dancing as long lost cousins reunited.  But for others the very fact that they were required to be in Bethlehem was a reminder that they were a conquered people.  For a tired traveler with a very pregnant wife, it was frustrating.

I remember once when we were on vacation we decided to drive until dark and then start looking for a motel.  When it was time to stop for the night, when we were very tired from driving all day, we started looking for a motel –only to find that there was not a motel anywhere with a vacancy.  I mean, there were lots of motels, and every single one we stopped at was completely full.  It had never occurred to me that every motel would be absolutely filled to capacity.  We ended up driving another two hours before we found any place with a room open.  And the motel where we finally found a vacancy was a shabby, dirty, run-down place that had holes in the bedding and dust and cobwebs in the corners and it didn’t smell very good.  This is not one of our favorite family vacation moments.  But for Mary and Joseph, this was worse. 

They had been walking for days on end.  Mary was pregnant, and her water had broken and the labor had begun.  And there was absolutely no place to stay.  Joseph must have knocked at every door in town.  Joseph was desperate. Can you imagine? Mary couldn’t have her baby out in the street.  Maybe he knocked again at the innkeeper’s door.  The innkeeper had already told him there was no room.  But, maybe he explained again why he so desperately needed a room.  Maybe he begged and pleaded.  We don’t know exactly what was said, but we do know that the innkeeper evidently agreed that the baby shouldn’t be born out in the street, and he allowed them to go around back and use the stable for a delivery room.

Of course, with all the travelers in town, the stable was full too.  It had donkeys and all sorts of animals.  And because it had been so hectic with all of the people arriving, I’m sure it had not been recently cleaned.  It wasn’t ideal –but at least it was a place to rest, a place to lie down, a place to have a baby out of public view.  And the Scriptures tell us that Jesus was born right there in that barn.

We like to picture the manger scene as a nice sterile place with clean, fresh hay, and clean stalls with pretty little sheep and maybe a friendly cow or two.  And that’s alright for our nativity sets we put out to symbolize this scene and remind us of the circumstance of Jesus’ birth –I mean, who wants a dirty, smelly barn sitting out on the coffee table?  But let’s be realistic.  Jesus was born in a real barn with real sheep and real cows and real goats and maybe chickens.  Real animals living in real barns don’t stay pretty and clean for very long.  Jesus was born in the midst of musty hay and sweaty animals and manure and mice and cobwebs, and his mother wrapped him carefully in some rags and laid him carefully in the feeding trough so that the cows wouldn’t accidentally trample him while she rested.  This is how God entered the world –the King of all Creation, Almighty God became a tiny baby, born to a teenage girl in a barn behind the local inn.

As I was reading about this and thinking about the implications it has for us, I started thinking about all those other people staying in Bethlehem.  I started thinking about the innkeeper; God was born in his barn, and he didn’t even know it.  And I started thinking about the other travelers and the guests at the inn and the people thronging the streets.  God was being born right there where they were and they had no idea.

For hundreds of years the Jewish people had been waiting for and praying for the Messiah.  For hundreds of years they had been praying and waiting and watching.  Now the time had come.  The prophecies were fulfilled.  God became man.  God became flesh.  The Savior of mankind had been born –Messiah had come.  And no one even noticed.

When morning came, I doubt anyone even thought twice about the pregnant teenager staying in the barn.  Once daylight was upon them, there were chores to do, errands to run, people to see, places to go.  The little village hummed with the hustle and bustle.  Food merchants tried to outbid each other to get people’s attention.  Merchants of all sorts hawked their wares.  All of them were unaware that God had arrived.

This was clearly the most significant event in all of world history up to that point –God had become man.  God’s plan for redemption and  salvation had been put into action.  Angels were amazed, but the humans were oblivious.

So, Christ, the Messiah, had come to Bethlehem, but Bethlehem didn’t even know it.  These people who thronged the streets and hawked their wares and filled the inns –these people who had longed for and prayed for God to send the Messiah –these people missed the birth of God.  They didn’t miss the advent of the Messiah because they were terrible people. Not at all –they were mostly good, devout Jewish people.   These other people living in the village of Bethlehem didn’t miss the most important event in all of human history because they were hopelessly evil or wicked or cruel.  They missed the birth of Jesus simply because they were too busy to notice.

That brings me to today.  I wonder –do I really have to make the application?  We sure are busy people aren’t we?  We have much to do –don’t we? We are always busy people, but during holidays we are even busier than usual.

I want to encourage you to take a moment right now to stop and think of how much love God has shown us through this baby that was born.  I want to invite you to pause for a moment  -in a sense, to pause before the manger and look at Baby Jesus and think about God’s extraordinary love.  God loved the world so much that He sent His only Son that whoever believes on Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.  This is love –not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:10)  This is love –God sent His Son.  Please, let’s not be too busy to notice. 

Ephesians 4:2 "Learning Patience"

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. (Romans 12:12)
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. (Ephesians 4:2)
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. (1 Corinthians 13:4)
 

Although I live in Florida, I grew up in Michigan.  I very clearly remember as a child in the winter time getting all bundled up with mittens and coats and boots before venturing out into the snow.  So, this illustration of patience from the life of an elementary school teacher seems plausible.

There was a kindergarten teacher that was helping one of her students put his boots on at the end of the day.  This little boy had asked for help, and the teacher could see why –the boots were a little small, and even with a lot of pushing and pulling, they didn’t want to go on.

When the second boot was finally on, after the teacher had already worked up a pretty good sweat, they little guy pointed out, “Teacher –they’re on the wrong feet.”  And when she looked down, sure enough they were on the wrong feet.

They were nearly as hard to get off as they had been to put on –but she managed to keep her cool as they eventually got the boots on the right feet.

That’s when the boy announced, “You know, these aren’t my boots.”

Fighting back a scream, the teacher once again grabbed the boots and began pulling and tugging and finally got them off his feet again, and then asked, “So, where are your boots?”  

“They’re at home –they were too wet to wear today.”

 

“So what boots did you wear?”  She asked.

“The ones you just took off –they’re my brother’s –my mom made me wear them.” 
  

Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, the teacher pushed and pulled the ill-fitting boots back onto the boy’s feet, and then asked, “And where are your mittens?”

To which the boy replied, “I didn’t want to lose them, so I stuffed them in the toes of the boots.”

 

 

John 4:24 "True Worship: Spirit and Truth"

John 4:24 "God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
 

Godly humility -the humility necessary for true, authentic worship -is a matter of understanding who we actually are before God.  It is neither thinking more of ourselves nor less of ourselves than God thinks of us.  When we understand this –when we let down our masks and our walls and all of those things that we build up around ourselves to protect ourselves, and we stand alone and vulnerable before God, something wonderful happens –we find the ability to truly worship.

But we have a very, very difficult time letting down our defenses –especially in the context of corporate worship as we worship with other Believers.  We don’t easily allow other people to see behind the facade we have built.  We have so carefully constructed the false personas that we want other people to see.  We have these masks that we hold out.  The real me is somewhere back here behind the mask, but the person you see is the mask, the person I want you to think I am.  We all do this.  We create an identity that we put on when we go out into public.  This identity kind of protects us.  If you don’t like me, you see, I know that it’s not me you don’t like, it’s the mask.  If you only knew the real me, you’d probably like me.  But of course, you might not and I don’t want to take the risk.  If I let down the mask, and allow you to get a peek at the real me, and then if you don’t like me, then I might truly be hurt. 

The ironic thing is that these masks and false identities that we construct become such a part of us that we forget we are even hiding behind them.  When we go out into public, we put them on automatically.  This is my public image.  My public image is kind of like me, but it certainly is not the real me or the entire real me.   Because we automatically put on these masks whenever we go out into public, and because we are so used to wearing them, when somebody suggest that we are hiding behind a mask, we automatically respond, “Un-uh. No way.”  You see, part of our mask, part of our defense mechanism is to create the illusion that what you see is who I really am –but it’s not.

   

Now, understand this.  At least in part what God is saying when He tells us that He requires that we worship in spirit and truth, is “take off the mask.”  True humility is not about putting ourselves down or making ourselves less than we are; it’s about taking off the mask, tearing down the walls, removing the barricades, and being honest and open before God.  Authentic worship cannot happen anywhere in any context without this.  We can go through the motions of worship without removing the mask, but we cannot truly worship.  One of the dilemmas we have in corporate worship, then, one of the reasons true authentic worship rarely takes place in church services is because it requires that we take off our masks in the presence of others.  Let’s look at an example of what I’m talking about from the New Testament.

   

There is a story in Luke chapter 7 where Jesus is invited to the home of one of the Pharisees.   Some friends and acquaintances and followers of Jesus evidently came with Him to this meal.  As they were sitting around the table, something dramatic and a little wierd took place.  A woman who had come with Jesus -a prostitute to whom Jesus had restored dignity by forgiving her was overcome in her love and appreciation for Jesus and fell at His feet crying.   

This forgiven prostitute was weeping so hard that her tears made Jesus feet wet.  She was actually embarrassed by this, so took her hair and attempted to dry Jesus’ feet.  The Pharisee, of course, was appalled.  He was thinking to himself, “How can Jesus call Himself a holy man when He allows this prostitute to do such a degrading, ridiculous thing in public?”   The Pharisee said to himself, “There is absolutely no way that I would ever put up with that kind of thing –it would be embarrassing –it would be humiliating.  First, she is a prostitute.  She shouldn't even be here.  Second, her crying and carrying on is too personal and intimate and is making everybody here uncomfortable.  She should quit.”

 

Jesus, evidently, knew what the Pharisee was thinking and responded, “The one who has been forgiven much, loves much.”  The Pharisee was a religious leader.  The woman was a sinful, social misfit.  The Pharisee made a lifestyle of worshiping God in public, and yet knew nothing about true worship.  The woman knew nothing about decorum or style or appropriateness, or even how or where or when worship was acceptable.  She only knew that Jesus had forgiven her and that she loved Jesus more than she could express.  The woman is the one who was worshiping, not the Pharisee.   

Now, I want us to understand what made this pathetic woman’s actions true, authentic worship.  It was true worship because she did not care about what anybody thought, she was not inhibited by society’s rules, she couldn’t care less that the Pharisee thought her foolish and annoying.  Her love for Jesus superseded what anybody else in the room thought of her.  She took off her mask, she pulled down the walls, and she fell at Jesus feet and worshiped.  And Jesus found that acceptable.

Lord Jesus, help us to worship you in Spirit and in Truth -without masks and without pretense.  Help us worship in such a way that You find acceptable.  Amen.

 

Acts 2:46-47 "True Worship As Evangelism"

I believe true authentic worship is the best witness we have to an unbelieving world that Jesus is, indeed, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. I’m convinced that when unbelievers enter our midst and see first hand Christians in communion with our Savior -when they see us remembering the saving deeds of God, and bowing humbly in brokenness before God with thanksgiving in our hearts and giving praise, when they see us singing joyfully to a God with whom we have a personal relationship, when they see us letting down the walls and the masks that hide us and separate us from each other, when they see us reaching out to God and to each other with love -they begin to understand that something real is going on. When unbelievers see true, authentic worship, they begin to see the truth. When unbelievers see true, authentic worship, they get a glimpse of the otherliness, the holiness, the transcendence and the majesty of God.

We see this dynamic clearly in the experience of the early church. Acts 2:46-47 tells us, "Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."

This Scripture tells us that in the early church the Believers went to the temple to worship everyday. Why do you suppose these young, new Believers wanted to gather together to worship everyday? I think that their desire to worship is a reflection of something very significant that had happened in their lives. When they turned to Jesus for forgiveness, a radical change took place in their lives –in effect, their entire lives changed –their priorities changed. For these new Believers, Christianity was not just something that they added into the routine of their daily lives –it became the routine of their lives. Because of what Jesus had done in their lives, worship became a significant and routine part of their existence. Whatever else they had going on in their lives before knowing Christ, now took a back seat to their new priority of worshiping the God who had redeemed them. So the routine of their lives included gathering together with other like-minded Believers for corporate worship.

These first Christians regularly met together for worship, and regularly met together for fellowship –and because the fellowship was grounded in a mutual relationship with Christ, there was not even a great distinction between the times of worship and the times of fellowship –it was all part of the Christian lifestyle –it was all part of the new routine of their lives. And this passage tells us that whether at worship as a congregation or whether fellowshiping over a meal in individual homes, everything this church did was characterized by glad hearts and praise to God.

Now, here is an interesting thing. We are told that one of the consequences of this unity –one of the consequences of sincere, authentic corporate worship and intimate friendships was that these people found favor in the community. Happy, friendly, graceful, merciful, forgiving people are nice to be around.

We live in a time when many people are, frankly, prejudiced against Christianity. Many people have serious misunderstandings about what we believe and how we think. Often times the media portrays us as narrow-minded, unthinking, bitter, angry, hateful bigots that can’t get along with other religions and can’t get along with other viewpoints. So, in movies and on television and even in new reports, Christians are often shown as stupid, mean-spirited, ignorant people. And yet, interestingly, these same people who are prejudiced against Christians in general, are often attracted to the qualities they see in the lives of the Christians they actually know.

Several years ago when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were in the first game of the NFL playoffs, the sportscasters were trying to describe the character of Tony Dungee, the Buccaneers’ coach at that time. Tony Dungee is a very vocal, very serious Believer. These cynical sportscasters didn’t have enough good words to describe Dungee. They talked about his honesty and his integrity and his kindness. One of them, in all seriousness, said that Tony Dungee is the best human being in the whole world –it was interesting to me that the qualities they affirmed in Tony Dungee are explicitly Christian qualities.

The truth about Christians is that we are good citizens and good neighbors, and good employees, and good friends. True Christians are people of integrity and compassion and mercy and grace. And the result for the early church was that they found favor in the community –and that God used all of this –the authentic worship, the sincere, glad fellowship, and the good citizenship to draw people into the Kingdom. The Lord added to their numbers daily.

I believe that God added to their numbers daily because everything they did daily was a reflection of Christ working in their hearts and lives –there was no separation between their secular lives and their religious lives. Joyful, sincere worship was a way of life that was attractive to a cynical, unbelieving world –and I believe it still is.

  

Lord,
Teach us as Your people to love Your house best of all dwellings, Your Scripture as best of all books, Your provisions as best of all gifts, and the fellowship of Believers as the best of all company. May we as one family give thanks and adore Your glory. Amen.

Romans 1:21-32 "True Worship 2: Acknowledging God and Giving Thanks"

They know God, but they do not give him the honor that belongs to him, nor do they thank him. Instead, their thoughts have become complete nonsense, and their empty minds are filled with darkness. They say they are wise, but they are fools.... And so God has given those people over to do the filthy things their hearts desire, and they do shameful things with each other.  They exchange the truth about God for a lie; they worship and serve what God has created instead of the Creator himself.... Because they do this, God has given them over to shameful passions. Even the women pervert the natural use of their sex by unnatural acts.  In the same way the men give up natural sexual relations with women and burn with passion for each other....  Because those people refuse to keep in mind the true knowledge about God, he has given them over to corrupted minds, so that they do the things that they should not do.  They are filled with all kinds of wickedness, evil, greed, and vice; they are full of jealousy, murder, fighting, deceit, and malice. They gossip  and speak evil of one another; they are hateful to God, insolent, proud, and boastful; they think of more ways to do evil; they disobey their parents;  they have no conscience; they do not keep their promises, and they show no kindness or pity for others.  They know that God's law says that people who live in this way deserve death. Yet, not only do they continue to do these very things, but they even approve of others who do them.  (Romans 1:21-32)

Mankind was created to worship God and have fellowship with God. Mankind was created to have a relationship with God. And it is within the context of this relationship that humans find purpose and meaning. As Paul so graphically pointed out in the Romans passage we just read, apart from the relationship, our minds become darkened and our thinking becomes futile, and we think we are wise when actually we are fools, and we begin a cycle of deceit and treachery and violence and aggression. And because we are essentially spiritual beings, we try to fill the spiritual vacuum that is produced when we leave God out, with created things rather than the Creator. We try to fill the spiritual vacuum with cars and houses and careers and education and family and alcohol and sex and drugs and movies and sports and hobbies and all kinds of thing –some of them good things, some of them not so good, but none of them actually able to fill the hole in our souls. It is a meaningless, pathetic existence and it leads to a horrible logical conclusion –eternal death. All this caused by refusing acknowledge and worship God.

Without a sense of gratitude to God, I begin to think that I am the most important thing –I need to take care of number one. I think that every good thing that happens I did for myself, and every bad thing that happens is because other people did me wrong. Not surprisingly, I lose any sense of responsibility to my neighbor –to those around me. And the ultimate consequence of this perverted thinking is found again in that list Paul gave us in Romans chapter one. We become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. We are filled with envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. We are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; we invent ways of doing evil; we disobey our parents; we are senseless, faithless, heartless, and ruthless.

These are not qualities that make for good neighbors are they? They are not qualities that make good friends or husbands or wives or children or bosses or employees. And yet, these are qualities that we begin to see in ourselves when we are ungrateful and refuse to acknowledge God and give Him praise.

And that’s not all of it. There is at least one other arena of life in which sin has caused brokenness. Sin has broken our relationship to nature. John 3:16 tells us that God so loved the world that he sent His only Son. The word used here for world means His creation. When we read this verse, we most often think of the world meaning the people in the world –and it does –but it means even more than the people; it means that God loved everything He created. You might remember that at every step in the creation story in the book of Genesis –after God created, He paused and said, “It is good.” Mankind is the crown jewel of creation. Unlike anything else God created –even unlike the angels, we alone were created in the image of God –so, we are, indeed, special to God. But it would be a mistake to think that God doesn’t care about the rest of His creation. He does. God loves His creation. And in the book of Genesis, we are told that God gave man dominion over the world, over what He had created. What that means is that God entrusted the care of His world to men. We were to be the caretakers. But because our relationship to God is broken, and because our relationship to other people is broken, and because we think that the only thing that matters in life is taking care of number one, we have over the centuries used and abused creation to the point where our relationship with nature is horribly broken. The water is polluted, the air is polluted, and in many areas the very dirt is polluted. The depletion of the ozone, the so-called, “greenhouse affect,” the mass destruction of the rain forests. All of these are examples of how alienated we are from nature. What we were entrusted with to take care of, because we are sinful, we destroy.

Because we do not worship as God deserves, life has no meaning or purpose and we fail at everything we were created for -we fail to know and love God, we fail to love others and we fail to care for the earth. There is only one solution to the human dilemma. We need to acknowledge God and give Him thanks.