God-Esteem

Grace, mercy and peace be yours in the name of our Triune God: one God, three persons. God the Father, God, the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Not three Gods, but one God in three wonderful persons. Wonderful persons.

I bet you miss looking like this, huh (photo of people wearing masks)? I thought I saw one mask, maybe two. Oh yeah! There's a couple. That's ok! Where I work, they've told us whatever the rest of society and culture is going to do with these masks, you're all wearing them. As healthcare professionals, you're going to be the last ones to get rid of them. And they said that in a kind way. Of course, that's a unique environment we have there within those walls. We still have a handful of people with covid in isolation. We don't want to keep seeing that. Fortunately, thanks be to God, it's not like it once was, but we're still taking those precautions. Now, how many of you, when this mask mandate came along, you thought, "Oh my goodness, that's not only a hasstle, that's just one big obstacle." I heard all kinds of things, like I can't breathe with these. You should try wearing an N95 for a number of hours. I mean, yeah, just a lot of obstacles came along with the pandemic.

I'll tell you, you know the thing about obstacles? Obstacles, I've come to appreciate, always also have opportunities embedded in them. They really do. And one of the opportunities that I discovered by having to wear a mask, especially there in the hospital, whether it was with the patients or their family members or with other healthcare professionals, was coming right up to them, and I got lot better at looking people in the eye. Really. I got a lot better about looking people in the eye. And I don't know, some people feel uncomfortable with that. I, for a lot of my life felt uncomfortable with somebody just looking, you know, looking me right in the eyes, right? And in some cultures, that's not a desirable thing. But I think a lot of us here in our culture appreciate that. That's one way you can tell if somebody really means what they're saying, and that they're engaged with you. You know, that's their way without words, saying you're important enough for me to make eye contact with you. So imagine if somebody came up to you and they looked you right in the eyes, and they said looking at you is far better than looking at an ocean view. Do you believe me? Do I mean it when I say that? Or, I would rather look at you and watch the sun rise in the morning. She's laughing. Why are you laughing? "Oh, yeah right." That's what we usually think, right?

You know what? That's not an "if," because of because of the story of creation. And the purpose of the creation, if you're not already aware of this, the whole, the pride and joy of everything that God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Spirit made happen with regards to the creation of the universe and this world and and you and me, is that, from the very beginning, He considered you and me and all mankind to be the apple of His eye. His pride and joy. If you need proof of it, it's it's right here. Read this with me: "Then God, said let Us make mankind in Our image, in Our likeness." Isn't that interesting? It doesn't say, let Me make mankind in My image and in My likeness. It's in the plural. And that's our first clue that - wait a minute - who is this God, who talks in the plural? Actually, the Hebrew, you may have heard the name Elohim. It's one of the Old Testament names used for God. And anybody who knows Hebrew, that's plural. God, plural. There's another clue to who God is. And by the way, forget about trying to wrap your head and your mind around how on earth could the Divine majesty and being of God, be three persons? Just let that go, and go with faith. Which, by the way, is defined in Hebrews as being certain and hopeful of those things you can't see and you don't fully understand. That's what faith is, right? So you have that here, and so you won't find the word Trinity in scripture, but that doesn't mean there isn't a Trinity God, or the Triune God. If you go to Genesis 1:1, let's read this. "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Okay, well, we know that the scripture goes on to present the Father, God the person as the Father, the Creator, right? And, by the way, thinking about a little bit of Hebrew, here, it doesn't come out in our English translation, but in the Hebrew, this would translate as "In the beginning, God created out of nothing." I find that astounding. Ruth, you're an art person. You cannot create art out of nothing. As good as you are. Nobody. You carpenters, you plumbers, those of you who worked in the paper mill, you did none of that out of nothing. That's the difference between you and me and God. And all mankind and God. So we know God is the Creator. And then it goes on, read this with me: "And the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters." This is the very first verse of the very beginning of the scripture. So you've got God the Father, you've got God the Spirit. Where's God the Son? You know what's really cool, whoever came up with the numbering, here, all you got to remember is Genesis 1:1 and John 11. And let's read this: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." That sounds like Genesis, although it's in the New Testament, and it's saying something about the Word, and then you go down 13 or 14 more verses and you have this, read it with me: "And the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us." So, there you have just the basics, the fundamentals with regards to what the scriptures. So, while the word Trinity isn't in there, it's very clearly stated and revealed that God has three important vocations: Creator, Redeemer Savior, and also - well the theologians like to say Sanctifier, the One who sets us apart to be God's people by remembering everything. Reminds us of everything Jesus had said to us when He became flesh and tented among us.

So, there it is. Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, in Our likeness." And so, then what happened in the the Creation story is that they got to that seventh 7th day, and we're told what? God rested. Not because He was tired, but really, that was His way of communicating - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - how then the the three of Them as One God, stepped back. They looked at all, especially the pride and the joy, the apple of Their eye. Who is the apple of God's eye? You and me and mankind. And (They) said: "Wow. This is awesome. This is good." Ah, that English translation: "It was very good." I don't think that's how They expressed it. "This is GOOD. This is fantastic. You are very good. You are the best of all that I made, and I made it for you. To share it with you."

Yeah. I remember that from Sunday School days, being taught that. And I keep getting reminded of it as I keep reading through the scriptures. And that does me a whole lot of good.

Yeah, read this with me: "And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good." Whether white, black, red, yellow. This is what the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit said.

Now, anybody here struggle with self-esteem? I think that's kind of a dumb question. Doesn't everybody, at one time or another, struggle with self-esteem? I think I remember - cuz it was so long ago - I was like 5th or 6th grade. My parents had come home from a parent-teacher conference sort of thing, which every 5th and 6th grader just freaks out about because "what's the teacher going to tell my parents? I got an idea of what they're going to tell my parents. It's not going to be good." And somehow, they had the report card, and it was on the kitchen counter, and I had come across it. And I noticed that the teacher had said, Chris has an inferiority complex. And my parents - I know I read it, because they never said that to me. I never had a teacher who said that. Now, when you're in sixth grade and you weigh about 63 pounds, you're a target for being bullied. And I was bullied. We won't go into details, but I grew up bullied. Just being pushed around by bigger kids and such. So, okay, well that would probably make somebody feel a little bit inferrior, by being pushed around and treated like that. And then, the other thing, I don't really remember anybody either in the family or otherwise, come and, you know, look me right in the eye and meaning it saying "I'd rather look at you, Chris, than an ocean view or the rising of the sun," you know? Yeah, I would have laughed if they would have said that to me. But I just don't remember. We didn't look at each other in the eyes, the family where I grew up. We just didn't do that.

But there was Someone who was looking at me in the eyes and saying, "Chris, I'd rather gaze upon you than an ocean view, or the rising of the sun or its setting at the end of the day." And I'm grateful to my father who God used as a spiritual head of the household, to make sure that as a little kid - I could even remember being in kindergarten, 5 years old in Sunday School, and being told the story of creation. Which just all culminated in saying "Yeah, Chris, you're very good. God made you in His image to love you. To be with you. To see you through this life and to be His forever." Wow. So, you know, you might want to try this, if you struggle with self-esteem issues. Most people, they get their steam going in the morning, they have coffee. A cup of joe. Tell you what. You take these 31 verses, the first 31 verses in the scriptures, Genesis 1-31. And you read through those every morning, and wherever it says "mankind," or references people in the plural, you put your name in there, and I'll tell you what, that will get you ready, more than a cup of steaming coffee to go into the day, knowing that you're the pride and joy of your Heavenly Father and the apple of His eye. Try it. Try it. It works. You know, it really is about God-esteem. Do I need self-esteem? I mean, it's what I was taught. It's what we hear. You know, I've tried self esteem. You know what, there's just always something that seems to be missing when I just rely on myself. When I rely on myself to pick myself up, pull myself up by my own bootstraps. You know, the thing about God-esteem or Christ-esteem a pastor named Don Matzat wrote a book called "Christ-esteem." I don't even know if it's published anymore. What a wonderful read that is. "Christ-esteem." There are chapters throughout the scriptures that make it perfectly clear that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are ever real and present, whether we feel it or not. It's there, always working on your behalf, in order to drive home, to remind you and me that you are the apple of the eye of your Creator and Savior and Helper, the Spirit. There are verses all throughout scripture that declare and reveal how the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is always breaking into your world, whether you realize it or not, even when you're convinced "God's left me. Where are you, God?" And He's right there. There are parables, there are prophecies all throughout scripture that showcase that God is always about a pursuit. It's His nature, pursuing you, and it's a nature of unconditional love. No strings attached to it. And there are prophecies and parables that go on and on, about how God is all about persisting and persevering and coming at you and me with grace. Undeserved favor, with mercy. Not giving you what you deserve, what I deserve, because His desire - you're the apple of His eye, pride and joy - well then, obviously His desire would have to be "I want to be with you, and I'm going to make that happen." But what do you do with all those other chapters and verses and parables and prophecies in scripture, like you heard in the Old Testament? I heard it loud and clear few moments ago, which are meant to open up our eyes and our ears to the mistakes that we make every day. And I'm not just talking about dropping a coffee cup on the floor and breaking it. The mistakes that go against with God's holy and precious will is. His desire for you and me. I mean, what are we supposed to do with all that that Bible reveals to us and opens our eyes to, with regards to people, mankind turning their back and saying "Ah, we don't need you." Did you hear that in the Old Testament? The people there thought they were holier than the God would created them! What do you do with that? Or what do you do with those chapters and verses and parables and prophecies that reveal how man and woman's love for themselves gets in the way of their love for God. You know what an idol is. It's whatever or whomever you put your your trust and faith in. Yeah, talk about self-esteem. That sounds like a good opportunity to put trust and love and faith in yourself. Right? 100%. And it happens, too, when it comes to hearing. You know, you're here, being really good listeners, I can tell. Or when you read the scriptures on your own. We'll read it and hear it the way we want to. Right? Against God wants us to be hearing. As an ever-loving Creator. Ever-loving Savior. Ever-loving Helper Spirit.

And then, when that starts happening, what happens to this? God-esteem, Christ-esteem gets replaced with self-esteem, right? We fall into that trap. We forget creation is God's. We think, yeah, we're in control of all this. We'll fix it. We'll make it all work. And we get to where, don't give me a cross with Jesus. You know, the Jews' problem with Jesus claiming to be Messiah, was that there's no way a Messiah could ever be hung on the tree of a cross. Can't happen. So, without God-esteem, you can't bear to look at a crucifix and expect any good to come from that.

And with regards to the Spirit, well, who really wants to be set apart from this world? Isn't life so wonderful? I mean, aren't there things that you don't want to let go of? But what do you know about those things? They're what? Passing away. I don't know, do I really want to be a Christian and have God the Spirit kind of pick me up and set me over here with the citizenship in another world? I kind of like it here. I kind of like my Harley motorcycle. There's one out there, that's mine. I'm not ready to part with that. And then I think, well, if a deer hits me on the way back to Chile, well then that's a reminder. This world is passing away. Is that is that the essence of my esteem? And such? Whatever it is for you? And worst of it all is then, when it becomes how we forget God, who He is: One God, Three Persons, and the One God, Three Persons who wants to befriend you for all time and eternity. And being a lifelong growing relationship. Through all the obstacles, realizing that, when you've got Him, there's only opportunities. Only opportunities. Yeah. And we forget that we think God only has reasons not to allow us into His Heavenly Kingdom, but He does. And the proof of it is here, read this with me. "Now, the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, 'did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden?;" You know what gets me about this, is it just happened where the Father, Son and Holy Spirit - One God, Three Persons stepped back after They have made everything out of nothing and said "This is wonderful!" And then Adam and Eve say "Well, wait a minute, wait a minute." And another voice, it wasn't God's voice, but this other voice snuck in there, kind of ssssssss a serpent sssss saying, "wait a minute, did God really mean it when He looked you in the eye and said 'You're the apple of My eye'?" Did He really mean that?

And what happens then, is what was intended to be embraced by faith gave way to doubt. And sure enough for Adam and Eve and you and me and all mankind, we end up exchanging faith for doubt, we exchange the truth or what? Lies. We live in a time, right? Where the truth has become so... what's true? What's a lie? What is truth? Nothing new, Pilot said that two thousand years ago. And we end up exchanging life for what? Death. Death. So, you think it's bad today? Wasn't looking good then. They're turning away. They're selling out. They'd rather go with self-esteem, rather than God-esteem, Christ-esteem.

But God, God is God. He's ever present and He's there to break into things. Thanks be to God for doing so. And it goes like this, let's read it. "Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden, but the Lord God called to the man, 'Where are you?'"

People in the hospital ask "Where is God," And God is saying what? "Where are you?" Who's hiding? Who's finding? We're the ones hiding? Come on. Do you want the truth or lies? Tell me you're not hiding. I don't believe you. Just as sinful, right? We find ways to hide for whatever reason. To look good, to make everybody else think that we got our act together, and that's why God loves us. That's why I'm prosperous, whatever. Who's hiding, and who's finding? And there's one who's finding. Why? Because those of us - me, hiding - doesn't change the fact, the promise that I'm what? The the apple of His eye. His pride and joy. He's not going to write off His pride and joy. So it goes on here, read this with me. "So the Lord God said to the serpent, 'I will put hatred between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers. Her Offspring will crush your head and you will strike His heal." This is what is known as the Proto Evangelion, which means the First Gospel. It's not there in John 3:16. Isn't that interesting, though? I mean, this is John 3:15. Remember John 3:16? Because that's what this is here. John 3:16 is a commentary on this" Eve's Offspring. In Hebrew, it's singular. It's not plural. It's not a whole nation of people. It's not a whole family tree of individuals. It's a single descendant from Eve and Adam, who would come along and, while Satan is biting and tempting Him in the wilderness, striking His heel, would come and crush the head of the one who was all about replacing your faith with doubt, about replacing the truth with lies, and with replacing your death with life by giving His life. Isn't that wonderful? The story of creation, you know, if you want to know the story of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you only need the first through eleven chapters of the Bible: Genesis 1:11. Because Genesis 12 to Revelation 22 are the details. It's all the specific details of what God lays out in those first eleven chapters. Boy, can you tell I love the scriptures? I'm nothing without the Word. Because if I didn't have it, I wouldn't have God-esteem. I wouldn't have Christ-esteem. And neither would you. Now, oh, another thing! Whoever numbered this was brilliant, because from Genesis 3, you go to Matthew 3, same verses, and read this with me: "Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan, to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter Jesus, saying, 'I need to be baptized by You, and You come to me?' Jesus replied, 'Let it be so now. It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.'" Wow. Do you hear what's going on here? The purpose of scripture is to reveal to all creation One God, Three Persons, what God's presence and purpose has been in this created creation of His. That He has been, is and always will be the One who is able to fulfill what you and I can't ever fulfill for ourselves. And that's this: that which is of God and righteous, which Christ here says to the baptizer. And here, I can't help but think that us - you know, God says "I'm going to incude you in this," but the us starts with Father, Son and Holy Spirit - We're going to do this thing for these people. Whether they're black, red, yellow and white, and We're going to fulfill it. We're going to make things right. And We're going to give it to them, share it with them. Wow, that's awesome.

So, you see, the Bible is really, it's the story of Eve's Offspring. Eve's Descendent. And it's what makes it the greatest true story, real story ever told and what also makes it so great, is this: that it is not merely God story, it's yours. It's yours. Why would you sell out on that story? Why would you exchange that for any other story? And it's not only yours, but it's God and yours and ours together. Thanks be to God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for declaring us - and meaning it - to be the apple of His eye, His pride and joy.

Now, may the peace which transcends all our understanding, keep and guard your hearts and minds in Eve's Offspring, who is Jesus. Amen.