Sermon No. 5

Who Are You?

Famous German philosopher Schopenhauer sat on a park bench. He held his head in his hands. A policeman approached him and asked, "Who are you?"

Schopenhauer reportedly looked up and said, "I wish to God I knew."

Who are you?

For you and me, there is no more profound question than that ... Who are you? Are you a "naked ape" as Colin Morris called us? Or is there some basic reality beyond the world of flesh?

One practical joker published a book entitled Wild Animals I Have Known. Open the cover and you see yourself in a mirror!

Seriously, Who are you? The Psalmist asked "What is man, that you think of him; mere man, that you care for him?" (Psalm 8:3) That question implies the eminence of man, not his insignificance.

What is man? What is a human being? Who are you?

The answer is important. It is critical. If we are but animals creeping along the earth ... eating, reproducing, dying ... if there is no meaning, no rhyme nor reason, no grand design to life, then what's the use of it all?

Maybe you remember the popular song in which Peggy Lee asked, "Is that all there is?"

A youngster was asked to describe a human person. Here is his description:

"Your head is kind of round and hard and your brains are in it and your hair is on it. Your face is the front of your head where you eat and make faces. Your neck is what keeps your head out of your collar. Your neck is hard to keep clean.

"Your shoulders are sort of shelves where you hang your shirt and coat. Your stomach is something that if you do not eat often enough, it hurts. Spinach don't help.

"Your spine is a long bone in your back that keeps you from folding up. Your back is always behind you no matter how quick you turn around.

"Your arms are to pitch with, and to reach for bread. Your fingers stick out of your hand so you can throw a curve and add up arithmetic.

"Your legs are what, if you didn't have two, you couldn't run. Your toes are what always get stubbed.

"And that's all there is of you except what's on the inside and I never saw that!"

Well, it's what's on the inside that concerns us today! Paul tells us that there is more to life than mere flesh and bones. "Brothers, think of what you were when you were called."
(I Corinthians 1:26)

"Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live after the flesh; for if you live after the flesh you will die. But if you thru the Spirit put to death the deeds of the flesh, you shall live."(Romans 8:12, 13)

A real tragedy of our lives is not that we think too much of ourselves, but that we think too little of ourselves! We have been taught that pride is the first and foremost of sins.

What is pride? Is the proud person one who thinks too highly of himself? Or is the proud person one who is unsure of his worth, and who therefore puts on a front ... a dishonest front?

Let's go back to the psalm: "When I look at the sky, which you made, at the moon and the stars, which you set in place, what is man that you think of him; mere man, that you care for him? You created him only a little lower than heavenly beings. You crowned him with glory and honor." (Psalm 8: 3 - 5)

Compared to the sky, to the moon, to the stars . . . what is man? Tiny, insignificant man!

Is that the meaning? No. NO. NO! Compared to the mighty universe, we are indeed tiny. But that is just the point. With all that magnificence, with all that splendor, with all that expanse, God still thinks of man! "Mere" man!

In fact, as we read in verse 5, God created us only slightly lower than heavenly beings! Angels! Compared to all that, you and I are significant. We were created in the image of God!

We are not omnipotent, nor omniscient, nor omnipresent, nor omnichronic. God is not anthropomorphic nor anthropopathic. What then is the "image" in which we were created?

I submit that the image of God in which we are created is the ability to think, to reason, to relate and communicate, to be creative.

We are not worms, Charles Wesley's hymns notwithstanding. Study any physiology book and be in awe at the wonder of our bodies! Study psychology, the mind, and be in awe at the wonder of the human brain!

Who are you? What is man? We have the very breath of God in our lungs! We are so precious that God gave his Son for us! Does not that reveal value?

Jesus spoke of the sparrow, and assured us that God sees every sparrow that dies. Then he added, "Are you not more valuable than a sparrow?" And the question was rhetorical!

That means you should walk tall. That means you should hold your head high. That means you should straighten your shoulders. You are someone! You are a child of a King. You are a Princess, a Prince!

This is, I believe, the genius of the Christian Faith ... that Christ perceived infinite value in every human being. Jesus said it, taught it, showed us our real value by treating all people with respect and dignity. All people. Sinners. Thieves. Prostitutes. Crooks. Lepers. Rich . . . poor . . . men . . . women . . . Jews . . . Samaritans . . .

We should ask with the Psalmist, "What is man that you think of him; mere man that you care for him?" Why should God think so much of you, of me, after all the mistakes we have made? Just look at our sins, our arrogance, our wars, our exploitation of the earth and of each other, after Calvary . . .

The Dark Ages were "dark" because the church lost sight of this fundamental Christian precept. The church became a hierarchy. Some human beings were considered more valuable than others. Some became priests, thru whom other humans had the only access to God.

Men were more valuable than women.

A recent incident in Hagar the Horrible quotes him, "Greetings. Since I left I crossed 7 seas, fought 1000 battles, and I have returned. Let's eat!"

His wife answers, "Since you left I cooked 300 meals, scrubbed 150 floors, made 300 beds, washed 1000 dishes and fixed the roof. We're eating out tonight!"

Concomitantly with church hierarchy there developed the feudal system. Feudal lords exploited the vassals, or tenants, who had no hope of changing their status. They were unimportant! They were not valuable as persons, only as "tools" to be used!

Asked our question, "Who are you?" one then would have answered, "I am a lord. I am royalty. I am a noble." Or one would have answered, "I am only a servant. I am only a slave. I am only a vassal."

The Renaissance was a revival of the mind, a renewal of the spirit of man. Man began to ask in all earnestness, "Who am I? Who are you? What is man?" And the questions demanded logical, rational, reasonable answers.

As we ask with the Psalmist why God should think of us, let us answer with him, "You made us just a little lower than heavenly beings."

Just a little lower! Man is the crowning glory of creation! Man is the only animal who can think, reason, rationalize, who can be creative to any significant degree.

Just think what we have created. Space vehicles. Computers. Laser beams. Electricity. Modern means of transportation and communication.

You are somebody, dear saint, you are really somebody! Are you not worth more than a sparrow?

This is where you need to remember that I am also somebody. The person sitting beside you is somebody. Every person you meet today is somebody. Each of us is as valuable as a person as every other one of us.

We are obviously not all equal in appearance or intelligence . . . or ambition or enthusiasm or talent . . . or in compassion or dedication or loving servanthood for Christ!

Jesus treated every individual -- the rich young ruler, the Pharisee, the prostitute, the tax collector, the fisherman --every individual with respect and courtesy and dignity.

You are somebody! Don't ever forget who you are! Don't ever compromise who you are.

G. K. Chesterton said, "If God can make a saint out of Simon Peter, he can do something with me."

According to one legend, during one of the wars fought over her beauty, Helen of Troy was left behind in Tyre. There she lost her mind. Forgetting her identity, she sank lower and lower. She wandered the streets of that seaport city offering her body to all. That is how Menelaus, her husband, found her. Gently he won her back to sanity.

At last she remembered who she was, her true identity. Then Menelaus took her home.

During the Spanish Inquisition, to break the spirit of someone, the inquisitors would place him in a dungeon in which he could not stand upright. Unable to stand, he would eventually go insane. The Vietcong did the same thing with "tiger cages."

John Calvin compared us to cracked cathedrals. The windows may be falling out and the walls may be crumbling. We may sometimes be in ruins, but we are cathedrals none the less. Cathedrals!

"Your body is the temple of God." (ICorinthians 3:16)

There is an important quali-fication in life. Our physical being was not by our choice. Even the continuation of physical life is not entirely optional. However, life in the Spirit is optional. It is not a birthright nor a birth gift. We obtain Spiritual life by choice, by decision, by diligence ... by grace and by commitment. God does not save us without our choice and our activity. This is freedom!

Plato taught that we have immortal souls. That's Greek philosophy. It is not Christian theology, altho the amalgamation of Christian and pagan thinking has incorporated it into our tradition.

It is that corruption of Christian theology which subsequently produced the doctrines of an eternally burning hell and the immediate judgment of a person at death! But that is not our concern this morning!

Who are you? Are you a child of the King? You can be . . . it is a matter of choice. Paul said "As in Adam all men die, so in Christ all men are made alive." (I Corinthians 15:22)

That is why Paul uses the term adoption. Because of Christ's life and death for us, we are adopted into the family of God. By accepting Christ as our Savior and our Brother, we become "heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ." (Romans 8:17) Sons of God!

We need to remember that this life with Christ is optional. This is what the will is all about ... freedom, choice. God did not create pawns for a chess board, nor robots for mere pleasure. He created us in his image!

A psychiatrist was interviewed on TV about the current "punk" rage sweeping our country. Outrageous, bizarre styles of dress and behavior. The psychiatrist noted that punk differs from the hippie culture of the preceding generation.

The hippies, he said, had some values ... peace, love, harmony. Their values clashed with the establishment, but they were values. Then he added, "the punks have only tear-down dispositions, anti-social attitudes."

The interviewer, an urbane young woman, asked, "Will these young people grow out of this? I mean, those of us who were young a few years ago are now yuppies."

The psychiatrist's answer was very revealing. "O yes, they will probably change. Altho there is not really much difference between the punks and the yuppies. They both have external values!" External values! Internal values is the call of Paul today.

What are your values? Are they external values? Is life simply wearing the right labels, driving the right car, joining the right club, knowing the right people?

Prince Potemkin was Catherine the Great's paramour and prime minister of Russia. For years the Russian empress supplied him with money to build new settlements in Siberia. He pocketed the money.

Quite unexpectedly, Catherine announced that she would go see one of the villages. Potemkin quickly ordered a stage-prop village with lavish exteriors but nothing inside. The empress toured the village without emerging from her carriage. She was fooled. Impressed, but fooled!

Jesus was not fooled. He said, "You make clean the outside . . . but within are extortion and excess." (Matthew 23:25) Who are you on the inside?

Jesus said, "He who is born of the flesh is flesh. He who is born of the Spirit is spirit." (John 3:6) And when he said "I came that you might have an abundant life"(John 10:10) he was talking about life in the Spirit.

Are you born again? Are you born into the Kingdom? It is a very serious question.

Steve Brown tells of a woman who told her husband, "A man approached me on the street today and asked, 'Are you a Christian?'"

He replied, "I would have told him it was none of his business."

She said, "If you had been there you would know it was his business!"

Are you a Christian?

A man came home and asked his wife about the day. "Well," she said, "The minister was here. He asked, 'Does Jesus live here?'"

"Did you tell him that we have been members of the church for years?"

"Yes, but that's not what he asked."

"Did you tell him that we give generously to the church?"

"That isn't what he asked. He asked, 'Does Jesus live here?'"

Does Jesus live at your house?

Who are you? Whose are you? Are you of the household of God? Does Jesus live with you? Do you belong to the family of God?

Let us pray . . .


	Who Are You?
	Famous German philosopher Schopenhauer sat on a park bench. He held his head in his hands. A policeman approached him and asked, "Who are you?" Schopenhauer reportedly looked up and said, "I wish to God I knew." Who are you? For you and me, there is no more profound question than that ... Who are you? Are you a "naked ape" as Colin Morris called us? Or is there some basic reality beyond the world of flesh? One practical joker published a book entitled Wild Animals I Have Known. Open the cover and you see yourself in a mirror! Seriously, Who are you? The Psalmist asked "What is man, that you think of him; mere man, that you care for him?" (Psalm 8:3) That question implies the eminence of man, not his insignificance. What is man? What is a human being? Who are you? The answer is important. It is critical. If we are but animals creeping along the earth ... eating, reproducing, dying ... if there is no meaning, no rhyme nor reason, no grand design to life, then what's the use of it all? Maybe you remember the popular song in which Peggy Lee asked, "Is that all there is?" A youngster was asked to describe a human person. Here is his description: "Your head is kind of round and hard and your brains are in it and your hair is on it. Your face is the front of your head where you eat and make faces. Your neck is what keeps your head out of your collar. Your neck is hard to keep clean. "Your shoulders are sort of shelves where you hang your shirt and coat. Your stomach is something that if you do not eat often enough, it hurts. Spinach don't help. "Your spine is a long bone in your back that keeps you from folding up. Your back is always behind you no matter how quick you turn around. "Your arms are to pitch with, and to reach for bread. Your fingers stick out of your hand so you can throw a curve and add up arithmetic. "Your legs are what, if you didn't have two, you couldn't run. Your toes are what always get stubbed. "And that's all there is of you except what's on the inside and I never saw that!" Well, it's what's on the inside that concerns us today! Paul tells us that there is more to life than mere flesh and bones. "Brothers, think of what you were when you were called." (I Corinthians 1:26) "Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live after the flesh; for if you live after the flesh you will die. But if you thru the Spirit put to death the deeds of the flesh, you shall live."(Romans 8:12, 13) A real tragedy of our lives is not that we think too much of ourselves, but that we think too little of ourselves! We have been taught that pride is the first and foremost of sins. What is pride? Is the proud person one who thinks too highly of himself? Or is the proud person one who is unsure of his worth, and who therefore puts on a front ... a dishonest front? Let's go back to the psalm: "When I look at the sky, which you made, at the moon and the stars, which you set in place, what is man that you think of him; mere man, that you care for him? You created him only a little lower than heavenly beings. You crowned him with glory and honor." (Psalm 8: 3 - 5) Compared to the sky, to the moon, to the stars . . . what is man? Tiny, insignificant man! Is that the meaning? No. NO. NO! Compared to the mighty universe, we are indeed tiny. But that is just the point. With all that magnificence, with all that splendor, with all that expanse, God still thinks of man! "Mere" man! In fact, as we read in verse 5, God created us only slightly lower than heavenly beings! Angels! Compared to all that, you and I are significant. We were created in the image of God! We are not omnipotent, nor omniscient, nor omnipresent, nor omnichronic. God is not anthropomorphic nor anthropopathic. What then is the "image" in which we were created? I submit that the image of God in which we are created is the ability to think, to reason, to relate and communicate, to be creative. We are not worms, Charles Wesley's hymns notwithstanding. Study any physiology book and be in awe at the wonder of our bodies! Study psychology, the mind, and be in awe at the wonder of the human brain! Who are you? What is man? We have the very breath of God in our lungs! We are so precious that God gave his Son for us! Does not that reveal value? Jesus spoke of the sparrow, and assured us that God sees every sparrow that dies. Then he added, "Are you not more valuable than a sparrow?" And the question was rhetorical! That means you should walk tall. That means you should hold your head high. That means you should straighten your shoulders. You are someone! You are a child of a King. You are a Princess, a Prince! This is, I believe, the genius of the Christian Faith ... that Christ perceived infinite value in every human being. Jesus said it, taught it, showed us our real value by treating all people with respect and dignity. All people. Sinners. Thieves. Prostitutes. Crooks. Lepers. Rich . . . poor . . . men . . . women . . . Jews . . . Samaritans . . . We should ask with the Psalmist, "What is man that you think of him; mere man that you care for him?" Why should God think so much of you, of me, after all the mistakes we have made? Just look at our sins, our arrogance, our wars, our exploitation of the earth and of each other, after Calvary . . . The Dark Ages were "dark" because the church lost sight of this fundamental Christian precept. The church became a hierarchy. Some human beings were considered more valuable than others. Some became priests, thru whom other humans had the only access to God. Men were more valuable than women. A recent incident in Hagar the Horrible quotes him, "Greetings. Since I left I crossed 7 seas, fought 1000 battles, and I have returned. Let's eat!" His wife answers, "Since you left I cooked 300 meals, scrubbed 150 floors, made 300 beds, washed 1000 dishes and fixed the roof. We're eating out tonight!" Concomitantly with church hierarchy there developed the feudal system. Feudal lords exploited the vassals, or tenants, who had no hope of changing their status. They were unimportant! They were not valuable as persons, only as "tools" to be used! Asked our question, "Who are you?" one then would have answered, "I am a lord. I am royalty. I am a noble." Or one would have answered, "I am only a servant. I am only a slave. I am only a vassal." The Renaissance was a revival of the mind, a renewal of the spirit of man. Man began to ask in all earnestness, "Who am I? Who are you? What is man?" And the questions demanded logical, rational, reasonable answers. As we ask with the Psalmist why God should think of us, let us answer with him, "You made us just a little lower than heavenly beings." Just a little lower! Man is the crowning glory of creation! Man is the only animal who can think, reason, rationalize, who can be creative to any significant degree. Just think what we have created. Space vehicles. Computers. Laser beams. Electricity. Modern means of transportation and communication. You are somebody, dear saint, you are really somebody! Are you not worth more than a sparrow? This is where you need to remember that I am also somebody. The person sitting beside you is somebody. Every person you meet today is somebody. Each of us is as valuable as a person as every other one of us. We are obviously not all equal in appearance or intelligence . . . or ambition or enthusiasm or talent . . . or in compassion or dedication or loving servanthood for Christ! Jesus treated every individual -- the rich young ruler, the Pharisee, the prostitute, the tax collector, the fisherman --every individual with respect and courtesy and dignity. You are somebody! Don't ever forget who you are! Don't ever compromise who you are. G. K. Chesterton said, "If God can make a saint out of Simon Peter, he can do something with me." According to one legend, during one of the wars fought over her beauty, Helen of Troy was left behind in Tyre. There she lost her mind. Forgetting her identity, she sank lower and lower. She wandered the streets of that seaport city offering her body to all. That is how Menelaus, her husband, found her. Gently he won her back to sanity. At last she remembered who she was, her true identity. Then Menelaus took her home. During the Spanish Inquisition, to break the spirit of someone, the inquisitors would place him in a dungeon in which he could not stand upright. Unable to stand, he would eventually go insane. The Vietcong did the same thing with "tiger cages." John Calvin compared us to cracked cathedrals. The windows may be falling out and the walls may be crumbling. We may sometimes be in ruins, but we are cathedrals none the less. Cathedrals! "Your body is the temple of God." (ICorinthians 3:16) There is an important quali-fication in life. Our physical being was not by our choice. Even the continuation of physical life is not entirely optional. However, life in the Spirit is optional. It is not a birthright nor a birth gift. We obtain Spiritual life by choice, by decision, by diligence ... by grace and by commitment. God does not save us without our choice and our activity. This is freedom! Plato taught that we have immortal souls. That's Greek philosophy. It is not Christian theology, altho the amalgamation of Christian and pagan thinking has incorporated it into our tradition. It is that corruption of Christian theology which subsequently produced the doctrines of an eternally burning hell and the immediate judgment of a person at death! But that is not our concern this morning! Who are you? Are you a child of the King? You can be . . . it is a matter of choice. Paul said "As in Adam all men die, so in Christ all men are made alive." (I Corinthians 15:22) That is why Paul uses the term adoption. Because of Christ's life and death for us, we are adopted into the family of God. By accepting Christ as our Savior and our Brother, we become "heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ." (Romans 8:17) Sons of God! We need to remember that this life with Christ is optional. This is what the will is all about ... freedom, choice. God did not create pawns for a chess board, nor robots for mere pleasure. He created us in his image! A psychiatrist was interviewed on TV about the current "punk" rage sweeping our country. Outrageous, bizarre styles of dress and behavior. The psychiatrist noted that punk differs from the hippie culture of the preceding generation. The hippies, he said, had some values ... peace, love, harmony. Their values clashed with the establishment, but they were values. Then he added, "the punks have only tear-down dispositions, anti-social attitudes." The interviewer, an urbane young woman, asked, "Will these young people grow out of this? I mean, those of us who were young a few years ago are now yuppies." The psychiatrist's answer was very revealing. "O yes, they will probably change. Altho there is not really much difference between the punks and the yuppies. They both have external values!" External values! Internal values is the call of Paul today. What are your values? Are they external values? Is life simply wearing the right labels, driving the right car, joining the right club, knowing the right people? Prince Potemkin was Catherine the Great's paramour and prime minister of Russia. For years the Russian empress supplied him with money to build new settlements in Siberia. He pocketed the money. Quite unexpectedly, Catherine announced that she would go see one of the villages. Potemkin quickly ordered a stage-prop village with lavish exteriors but nothing inside. The empress toured the village without emerging from her carriage. She was fooled. Impressed, but fooled! Jesus was not fooled. He said, "You make clean the outside . . . but within are extortion and excess." (Matthew 23:25) Who are you on the inside? Jesus said, "He who is born of the flesh is flesh. He who is born of the Spirit is spirit." (John 3:6) And when he said "I came that you might have an abundant life"(John 10:10) he was talking about life in the Spirit. Are you born again? Are you born into the Kingdom? It is a very serious question. Steve Brown tells of a woman who told her husband, "A man approached me on the street today and asked, 'Are you a Christian?'" He replied, "I would have told him it was none of his business." She said, "If you had been there you would know it was his business!" Are you a Christian? A man came home and asked his wife about the day. "Well," she said, "The minister was here. He asked, 'Does Jesus live here?'" "Did you tell him that we have been members of the church for years?" "Yes, but that's not what he asked." "Did you tell him that we give generously to the church?" "That isn't what he asked. He asked, 'Does Jesus live here?'" Does Jesus live at your house? Who are you? Whose are you? Are you of the household of God? Does Jesus live with you? Do you belong to the family of God? Let us pray . . .