I am Created by a Creator

One Point: I am Created by a creator

[Scripture Reading]

1)For today’s message, let us turn to the book of Colossians 1:15-16. Let us all rise and recite the scripture together. On the count of 3. 1, 2, 3.

2) “15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.”

Amen.

[Sermon]

Good morning, everyone. Let us take this time to greet one another. Let us turn to our friends and say, 3)“When I look at you, I see God’s image.” Amen. That is right. We are all created in God's image; for that reason alone, we are worthy. But despite this truth, every day, we struggle with the voice that comes up from within. And that voice is, 4)“I hate myself.” Who hears this voice? Even though I know that I am worthy as the child of God. Even though I know that God loves me, there is that moment in life when I hear these words so clearly in my head. Recently, I had that moment. On Thursday, I had guests over for dinner. I cooked them a great meal. We had a lovely time of fellowship. And at about 11 pm, the guests went back to their homes.

To be kind, my wife and I went down the main entrance of our apartment to say goodbye. As we returned to our unit, I twisted the doorknobs, but they did not turn. 5)This is our door. But what happened was that we used a digital lock that opens with our fingerprints and passcode. We usually don’t lock the door knob that you see at the bottom. But we don’t know what happened. We don’t know who twisted locked, but we were locked out of our unit, and there was no way to get back into the house. I tried opening the lock with my cards, but it didn’t work. It was already 11:30. I had my phone with me, but I couldn’t contact the locksmith because it was so late. I had just a T-shirt and track pants on, and it was a cold night. All sorts of different thoughts ran through my head. “Should we just sleep in the hallway of our apartment until we were able to call the locksmith? Should I just go to church and sleep in our office?” But what we ended up doing was we contacted the guests that were at our house, knowing that they wouldn’t be asleep, and we slept at the guests’ house that night. As a person who does not like to make a mistake, as a person who hates being needy, I hated myself so much. As I crashed on their sofa bed, the voice inside of me, “I hate myself,” became my lullaby to sleep. The next morning, we Ubered back to our apartment, 6)and one of our staff members who knew how to pick a lock opened our door, and that was the end of this embarrassing situation.

It’s not such a big deal if you guys think about it. You can sleep in someone else's house if you need to. But as a Pastor, I didn’t want to sleep at our member’s house, who we tried to serve and bless that evening. There was no point in blessing our guests if I needed their help. I thought as a Pastor, it was not something I should do. Because of this thought, I was so distressed, and I really hated myself for locking myself out of the house. But guys, don’t you all have that moment? It could just be some embarrassing incident like this. It could be something about your studies. It could be something about your performance if you play the instruments. It could be about your sports games. Whenever you do something that does not fulfill your expectations, that voice inside of you, “I hate myself,” starts haunting you. But why is that? It is all because of the lie this world tells you. 7)“You are what you do.”

As students, we all have that 8)Artificial Identity. It could be based on our studies, sports, music, or art, whichever path you take. But if the results do not fulfill the standards you set for yourself or what the world has set for you, we all end up depressed and disappointed. But through today’s scripture, God is telling us, 9)“There is no need for you to panic. There is no need for you to be depressed. For you are created by me.” Let’s read today’s scripture one more time. On the count of 3. 1, 2, 3.

10)15 “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.”

In this scripture, Jesus is illustrated as the image of God. But not just an ordinary image, Jesus is the firstborn over all creation. And everything on earth, all things that have life, were created through Jesus and for him. So, according to this scripture alone, through Jesus Christ whom we have been saved, is also created in the image of God. That is who we are. We are not what we do. Our identity is not based on the grades we get and the college we go to. Our identity is not based on the stats we get after the sporting season. Our identity is not based on the success that we have in our lives, but no matter what we say of ourselves or what the world says to us, 11)we are created in the image of God. If we lose this identity and conform to the Artificial Identity that was set by the lie, “I am who I am,” then the world is going to haunt us. First it is going to be, 12)“I hate myself,” later on, it is going to be, “I want to kill myself.”

Continuing from last week’s story, 13)my family immigrated to Australia when I was 7. After years of struggle, my family settled down in Australia.14) When I was in 7th grade, I encountered Jesus and said that I would devote my life to God. As a follower of Christ Jesus, I believed that I needed to be successful in doing this. So, I really studied a lot to live up to my beliefs. And through God’s blessings, I did very well in school. I don’t want to brag about it, but the last report card I received was all HD as in High Distinction, except Art and French. But on the day I received this report card, my life changed. It was the day of the Parents Teacher's night. But for some reason, both of my parents were on the night shift. So, instead of my parents, my sister went with me to school to meet the teachers and to get the report card. I was first in grade by like a mile. No one was anywhere near my grades. I was so happy. I couldn’t wait to show it to my parents. After coming back home and waiting for my parents to come back, at about 8 in the evening, someone came 15)knocking on our door. Thinking it was my parents, I flung open the door and that instant, 10 men came rushing in through the door. Like that, my whole house was suppressed by the immigration police immediately. Not only the inside, but to prevent us from running away there were policemen outside the house guarding all doors. What happened was that our family had overstayed our visa and was an illegal immigrant at the time. So, these immigration police came into my house to deport us back to Korea. Luckily, because I was an underage kid, they couldn’t arrest me without my parents. After agreeing to visit the immigration office the day after, the police officers left my house. To this day, it was one of the most frightening moments in my life. Being raided upon is not a great feeling. Being accused of wrongdoings by someone with authority was a terrible experience. I could hear my teeth chatter because I was so scared.

Like that, my family was given a month to move out of Australia, and In 2004, my life’s new chapter began in Korea. Life was hard once again. I had to start all over again. New friends, new school. One of the most difficult things about Korea was the studies. Think about it. I knew Korean. I was fluent, but I couldn’t study in Korean. Also, I had to learn Chinese characters in Korean. Think of all the science jargon I needed to learn to understand what I already know. Maths were numbers but questions were in Korean. Think about the struggle. The results were catastrophic. I was first in grade in Australia a few months ago. But after my first exams in Korea was 2nd. Not 2nd from the front but 2nd from the back. I was like 358th out of 359 students. I don’t know how it was possible for someone to be behind me, but after receiving those grades, I was very disappointed. I was in a panic. I believed I needed to do well and devote my life to God. My dreams of being successful were now down the drain. I resented God. I cried out to God, “God, didn’t you call me to be used by you? Why are you putting me through all of this?” This was one of the main reasons why my life was hard. I had my ideal self up here, but reality was down there. I was a failure. According to my grades, I was 358th. Once 1st to 358th. Do you know how terrible it feels to drop this much? At first, I got so furious that I tried so hard to get better. But no matter how hard I tried, getting out of the ditch I was in was so hard. Learning in a broken language was not easy. So, when I got into high school, I gave up. I literally gave up studying. And finally, I hit that mark as the last in grade.

But guys, despite these terrible grades, God had other plans for me. In high school, I encountered Jesus again and felt a strong call to ministry. I decided to apply for Bible college. For the college that I wanted to get into, there were entrance programs for students who came from overseas, usually for Missionary kids. I needed a decent grade from a Certified English test. So, after taking the TOEIC test and getting a good score, I got into college without taking the Korean SAT. I thought that I was a failure because of my grades. I thought I was a failing in life. I thought that God was not going to use me. But as God’s creation, as a saved child of God, God had another plan set for me. He planned to use me as his servant. To do ministry with him at the forefront. It took me a long time to realize this, but God wanted me to experience his divine calling and see that I was a creation of God. The things I do, the success that I get is not who I am but I am a creation of God! That is what God wanted me to know.

This applies to all of us. Not just me, but everyone here. 16)What you do does not define who you are. Your grades, your performance, and your stats do not define you. But we are all God’s creation. That is who we are. We are the divine creation of God, and nothing could take that away from us. According to the lies that this world tells us, you guys might think that God has discarded you. Whenever you think that is the case, always remember this truth. Repeat after me. 17)I am created by God. People are going to tell you, “You are a failure for you have failed.” But that is a lie that we need to step out of. We are not what we do; we are creations of God. I may have been a dumb kid in Korea with bad grades. People may have branded me as the last in the grade. But that was all a lie. It may be a fact but that is not my identity. Why? For, I am a creation of God. For that identity, I am here preaching the word of God.

I don’t know what struggles you guys go through. Like me you all might be going through the same struggles with grades. But today, God is telling us this truth, “You are my creation!” In Genesis 1:27 18)“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” God had made you in his image. No matter what your inner voice says, you are created by me. The almighty, omnipotent, omni-present creator has created you. Then you might question this. 19)“Why am I going through these troubles? I get that I am God’s creation, but why am I going through all this pain and suffering?” Like how God has used my experience, God is going to put your troubles to good use. For he has plans to use you and your encounter with him. That is where you will meet God. In the struggles. There is where God is with you to get through. Today, God is comforting us with this word. You are created by me. Let us receive this comforting and take this time to pray.

In the Old Testament, Daniel’s three friends were put into a burning furnace to keep their identity as the image of God. They did not want to worship a made-up God and wanted to live up to their true identity. So, they boldly entered into the burning furnace. But to everyone’s surprise an angel of God entered into the furnace with them and kept them safe from all harm’s way. When we live up to our identity, God is going to be with us no matter how hot the situations get. Are you going through this hot situation. Is you life in panic mode for you had set your identity in what you do? Today, God is reaching out to you. “You are my creation.” “I am with you!” “Let’s get through this.” At this time, let’s seek God. “God, I want to encounter you once again.” I want to get out of this lie that I am living and let me live my life as your creation.” I do not want to define myself from the things I do, but I want to define myself as your creation, so lord give me the strength to step out of this lie.” Let this be our prayer. Let us pray.

As creations of God, God has divine plan for us set ahead of us. It may seem so far away. I may seem as though it is a painful journey but God promises us that he is going to be with us through this journey. This time when we pray, “God let me live according to your plan. Tell us your plan and let us boldly walk that path.” With a sincere and bold heart. Let us pray together.

Dear heavenly father, we thank you for telling us that we are your creation. According to this identity we want to live a life with you to be used by you. The world may lie to us saying that we are what we do. But lord, let us not be swayed by this lie and live according to the truth that you taught us. As we set forth on this journey living as your creation, let us walk firm in you and only in you. We thank you and in Jesus’ name we pray Amen.

[Benediction]

Father God, as we go out into this world to be your light, let us remember that we are your creations.

For all who are here today, For all students teachers and for all the missionaries spreading the light all over the earth. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God and the fellowship of the holy spirit be with us always and forevermore. Amen.

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