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Part 2

 

So Wonderfully Made: Spiritual Homeostasis

A Lesson Presented At The Southside church of Christ Youth Revival Meeting

Richmond, California
Theme: Young People, Where Do We Go From Here?

Assigned Topic: Spiritually, Our Makeup & Welfare

 

 

Lesson Text: (Genesis 1:26-28) "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."

 

Selected Theme: (Psalms 139:14)  "I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well."

 

Of our physical makeup Dr. Elaine Marieb (1998) in her book Human Anatomy & Physiology said, "Homeostasis is so important that most disease is regarded as a result of its disturbance, a condition called homeostasis imbalance." Genotypic homeostasis is the perfect balance of the human body. The organs in the human body are equally dependent upon each other for successful survival. If something happens to the liver, kidney, heart, lungs, throat, small or large intestines the entire body is impacted on a negative scale and homeostasis is interrupted.

 

The psalmist said (Psalms 148:3-6), "Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light. Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the LORD: for he commanded, and they were created. He hath also stablished them for ever and ever: he hath made a decree which shall not pass." All of Gods creation works in perfect harmony because He has created and commanded them in such a fashion.

 

The makeup of God's children provides them with the ability to work with and under Him in spiritual harmony or homeostasis. In this capacity the welfare of the Christian is also cared for because God did not create a people that cannot serve Him. When God placed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden and instructed Adam not to eat of it He was providing His most prized possession and creation with something nothing created before him ever received (Genesis 2:16-17). Some might believe that God was at fault for placing the element that resulted in the sin of Adam in his presence but that one element (the tree of the knowledge of good and evil) provided Adam and Eve with the mental freedom to choose or not to choose God.

 

Unlike the sun, moon, stars, ocean, animals, insects and birds, humanity has the ability to reason and think clearly. As part of God's spiritual makeup and welfare, He gave us the ability to follow Him or deny Him. Spiritual homeostasis is the result for those who follow Him and spiritual imbalance, destruction, confusion and sin is the result for those that neglect to follow Him.

 

Spiritually, humans have been made after the image and likeness of God. God Almighty has imported in His human creation some of the same immaterial elements He Himself possesses. In our text the word image is translated from the Hebrew word Tselem, which means a shade or a representative figure. God has not created humans exactly like Him but when God's children are critically observed the viewer will see attributes of God. The word likeness in our text is translated from the Hebrew word Dhemuth and means resemblance. The Christian does not resemble God phenotytpically but spiritually in action and response. He or she is supernatural (Pneumatikos). In the providing for the welfare of God’s children He has instilled six qualities into our makeup that He also possesses: A Spiritual nature, Dominion, A Moral Nature, an Everlasting Spirit, the ability to Reason and the Freedom of Choice.

 

  1. God has a Spiritual nature and man/woman has a Spiritual nature:

 

 

 

  1. God rules over the earth and He has also provided His human creation with earthly dominion or the ability to rule over earthly things:

 

 

 

 

 

  1. God's nature is moral and His human creation has a moral nature:

 

 

 

  1. God is eternal, everlasting and forever and the spirit of God's people will live forever:

 

 

 

 

The two main godly attributes that humans possess that we want to emphasize are his/her ability to reason and freedom to choose.

 

  1. Because people are made in the image of God they have the ability to reason just as God can reason:

 

 

 

  1. Not only can we reason God has given us the awesome gift, because of His love toward His creation, to choose:

 

 

 

 

 

God has created His human creation with the ability to be like Him. When men and women walk according to the righteous providence He has placed in them, spiritual homeostasis is the result. The psalmist said in Psalms 139:14,  "I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well." God has made us of a wonderful essence and it is a shame when His people walk outside of his counsel.

 

God has made his creation so that they know right from wrong. God has made His people with a spirit of discernment so they can detect that which is spiritual and that which is carnal. That which is a blessing from God and that, which might be a bounty from Satan. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:14-16, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ."

 

God has provided His human creation with a mind and the ability to think. If we are to maintain spiritual homeostasis we must use it. God has endowed us with the ability to analyze, critically investigate and make correct decisions. When or if we habitually engage in sin we are defiling our temple, disrespecting our spiritual and physical makeup and shaking a fist of rebellion in the face of our creator. God’s creation of the world in six days shows His wisdom, order and love for humanity.

 

 On the first day God created the day and night, morning and evening (Genesis 1:3-5). On the second day God separated the heavens from the waters (Genesis 1:6-8). On the third day God separated the dry land from the water calling them earth and seas (Genesis1:9-13). He then set the vegetation of the world to bring forth seed after its kind. On the fourth day God catapulted to sun, moon and stars into the heavens for signs, seasons, days and light (Genesis 1:14-19). On the fifth day God created the fish and the birds of the air (Genesis 1:20-23). On the sixth day God created animals and insects (Genesis 1:24-25). On the sixth day, after God was finished setting His stage, out of His brilliance He created man and woman (Genesis 1:26-27). Out of Gods wisdom, intelligence and omnipotence He created everything man needed before He created him so it would all be ready upon his arrival.

 

God spent six carefully planned days to prepare the world for His most special creation and if we begin to sin, walk outside of His counsel, denying the intelligence He has given us, we no longer act as godly endowed humans but regress to state of animalia. Jonah disrespected his godly makeup and ended up in the belly of a fish for 3 days and nights (Jonah 1:17). The 10 sons of Jacob disrespected their makeup and found themselves at the mercy of their brother Joseph, whom they sold off out of envy (Genesis 42:1-3). Cain disrespected his makeup, killing his brother out of jealousy and envy, and was condemned to a life and land of wandering, the land of Nod (Genesis 4:14-16). Judas disrespected his makeup, disturbed his spiritual homeostasis, and betrayed his Master Teacher and the result was his own suicide (Matthew 27:3-5).

 

Jesus Christ however, never disrupted His spiritual homeostasis, never disrespected His spiritual or physical makeup, was always well, was always fair, resisted the devil, refused to turn a stone into bread (Matthew 4:3-4), refused to jump from the temple top to prove He could fly (5-7) and refused the kingdoms of the world and all their glory (8-11). If we want to know how we should be we must look to Christ because He evidences the perfect balance between spirit and flesh. He maintained a perfect spiritual relationship with God because He never jumped in the flesh, disrespecting His makeup, and decided to do His own thing.

 

Isaiah not knowing a physical Christ but knowing of His image and likeness prophesied in Isaiah 53:5-7, "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth."

 

When Christ had the right to share some harsh words to a guilty group of felony offenders He opened not His mouth. Even when Judas, a man Christ cared for, trained and nurtured betrayed Him, Christ still greeted Him with "Friend."

 

"And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast. And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him. And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him" (Matthew 26:47-50).

 

Jesus always acted out of a spiritual and supernatural disposition. Even while He was on the cross He was able to say in regards to His murderers, "...Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). God has endowed us and made us wonderfully so we can serve Him and find His church. Jesus died so believers can be added to His Body (1 Corinthians 12:13). But people will have to use their minds to find God. We are wonderfully made in His image and likeness so let us truly be like Him in word, deed, action and response.

 

Psalms 139:14  I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

 

AMEN