We Matter, But We are Not ALL that Matters...

Good Morning…I want to start us off this morning in a certain frame of mind. So I am going to ask you a question, give you a moment to think about it, and then everyone who is here this morning is going to give me one thing that answers the question…and yes, I want everyone to answer…ready, here’s your question:

What Are You Grateful for Today?

Allow time for everyone to answer

Today, I am grateful for all of you…and I give thanks and praise for each of you this day and every day for that matter but especially today. As we move one more step into our study of the concept of Stewardship, one thing that has always been present in all that we have covered is this idea of giving thanks and praise. You see, that’s the heart of stewardship. Our giving, financial and otherwise, to this church depends upon how much we appreciate all that each of us means to the other. When our hearts are not so grateful, we tend to give less. And I mean less money, but I also mean less time, less energy, and less effort toward the work of the church as a whole.

Our journey today in studying stewardship continues by looking at what it means to give praise. Now, I know I have beat up this subject of stewardship pretty good this summer but the concept of stewardship is extremely important to our future, as beings created by God but also as a church.

Here’s why…if you have turned on the TV at any point this week, I am sure you have been bombarded by images of people fighting for their lives to get out from under the oppression and rule of someone else who does not want them to have freedom. At least that is my understanding of what is happening in Afghanistan these past weeks. There, in that place, are people on both sides who were created by God who believe that their ideas and concepts of what God desires are right. Before you start arguing this point with me, let me say this…I do not believe any of us can say with any certainty, at least I think none of us can, because as far as I know, none of us have lived there for any period of time in the recent weeks, but I don’t think any of us can say that we know exactly what one side believes or does not believe.

The thing is though, each side has their beliefs and ideas and they are willing to fight to the bitter end for what they believe. Now, I mention this, this morning because it speaks to what I think many humans believe today…that being “I am the most important thing in this world”. The thing is, as I said a few moments ago, God created all things, yes, all things. I think this is the point that the Psalmist makes in Psalm 148, which we have before us today. It is not the only point that the Psalmist makes but it is one that I think we overlook when we read it for ourselves.

We Like to be Important

Each one of us likes to be the most important thing to someone else. This is played out in our everyday lives, from work environments, to the High School Football fields, to the grocery store, and just merely driving around our neighborhood. We want to be the top dog at work, the best player on the field, the only person in the grocery lines, and drive like no one else is on the road, at least that is my interpretation of how people are driving these days.

But regardless, the thing that I think is really important for us to hear in the words of this Psalm is that in God’s eyes, everything is important and nothing has preference over another, except maybe Christ himself. Here’s what I mean...

“Psalm 148”

This Psalm can really be broken down into two distinct sections, both of which are book-ended by the word “Hallelujah”, or “Praise the Lord”. The first section entails praise coming from the heavenly realm and the second from the earthly realm. Let’s take a look at each section, one at a time...

Psalm 148:2–6 (NLT)

Praise him:

all angels

all armies of heaven

sun and moon

all twinkling stars

skies above

vapors high above the clouds!

So here we have a list of all the created things that God placed in the heavens. Let me ask you this…is this an hierarchical list or is it just a list of the heavenly things that God put into place at creation?

I would argue that there is no order of importance in this list. If we moved things around and listed them in a different order, they would all still have the one thing in common with the second section, they were created by God. So, to me, the Psalmist, when reading between the lines, is just saying, all things are to praise God. Notice too in the words I read a bit ago, each of these items started with the words “Praise God”.

This is the same concept that appears in the second section as well, so let’s take a look at what the Psalmist lays out in this section...

Psalm 148:7–12 (NLT)

Praise the Lord

creatures of the ocean depths

fire and hail,

snow and clouds,

wind and weather

mountains and all hills,

fruit trees and all cedars,

wild animals and all livestock,

small scurrying animals and birds,

kings of the earth and all people,

rulers and judges of the earth,

young men and young women,

old men and children.

Again, do you think this list is in order of importance? I would once again argue that the Psalmist is just trying to say that all of God’s creation should praise God because we all have the gift of life because of God. Notice that the Psalmist does not only list living, breathing creations. Both of these lists lay out inanimate objects as well. Look at it…fire and hail, mountains, tall cedars, snow, clouds, sun, moon, stars, etc. The Psalmist is making the point that in God’s eyes, all things are as important as one another.

I have often used an example for to depict what kind of sin is the least or greatest in God’s eyes but I think it applies here as well…when God looks down at the world that was created, do you think God sees one thing as greater than another? I believe that when God breathed over the world, all things were created to be equal. But as humans, we have developed this sense of entitlement. We believe we own things. We believe that we control things. We believe that we can control others and subdue even others that we deem unworthy of ourselves. This is not how I believe God created the world or for what God created everything.

Our idea of stewardship this morning is about caring for others, which includes all things. When we think about our place in the world, we need to consider that we hold no place above anything. WE are not all that matters in this world because I think everything matters to God. Because we have the ability to think and act upon our thoughts, we should be considering how we steward everything in this world and I mean everything. I have seen more destruction on this Earth than I would like to have seen in my entire life, from fires searing thousands of acres of God’s trees, to floods that engulf multitudes of God’s creation, to the people who believe that they laud authority and power over others.

Last week, I challenged us to begin thinking differently and looking at the world around us differently and think about what we worship. Did you know that worship is a form of praise? Of course you do. But, are we praising God for the right thing? That is our challenge this week…how do we look at the world and give thanks for all the things of this world that God created for us to enjoy and then praise God by showing how much we care by our care of all that is around us? Amen.