Where Is the Awe?

Posted by David on December 24, 2000 under Sermons

We live in a cynical nation during cynical times surrounded by cynical people. No, I am not trying to be Ebenezer Scrooge saying, “Bah humbug,” on Christmas Eve Day. I just ask you to look at our circumstances and situation.

Consider a list of ten commonly accepted views many Americans do not question. Please do not agree or disagree. Instead, ask a question: “Do the majority of people I know think this the way?”

Our systems of education are a destructive force in our children’s lives.
Teens are supposed to distrust their parents.
Parents are supposed to have trouble with their teens.
People married to each other are supposed to fight with each other.
People should not expect marriages to last.
Needy people learn how to be con artists.
Unprincipled people make good politicians.
Businesses care about money, not about people.
Positive role models are a thing of the past.
Beware of strangers who want to something good for you.

Are those common views cynical?

Today you and I live in a society that holds little in awe.
1. We have just concluded a long, long political campaign which is an excellent illustration.
  1. “It is fair to misrepresent your opponent in any way you can as long as what you say is technically true.”
    1. “It is okay not to tell the whole truth.”
    2. “It is okay if the political ad is deliberately biased and oversimplilfied.”
    3. “It is okay if the political ad deceives.”
    4. “The uniformed may hear a lie; the uninformed may believe a lie; the uniformed may be deceived; but it is okay as long as what is said is technically correct.”
  2. One evening I heard a political analyst seriously suggest that the late night comedians seemed to be in better touch with people’s reactions than political analysts.
    1. That is an incredible statement.
    2. The satire, critical statements, and cynical suggestions of David Letterman and Jay Leno more correctly reflect the thinking of the American public than do the insights of a serious political analyst.
  3. We are supposed to accept as fact that nothing is sacred in our society.
    1. Nothing is above ridicule.
    2. Little if anything is trusted.
    3. Everything done is for some self-serving reason.
2. Many would react by asking, “What is wrong with that? That is a good situation, not a bad situation.”
  1. “That protects people from being disillusioned.”
  2. “It protects those who are gullible.”
  3. “It helps shock proof our society.”
  4. “People learn to expect the worst (that is good!), to not trust others (that is good!), to understand everybody functions on bad motives (that is good!).”
For all their faults, flaws, and failures, Old Testament Israel at times did hold God in awe.
1. Deuteronomy 16:16 states:
  Three times in a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread and at the Feast of Weeks and at the Feast of Booths, and they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed.
  1. All of the adult men of Old Testament Israel were commanded to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for national sacrificial worship threes times each year.
    1. At the time of Passover when they remembered the night they were released from Egyptian slavery.
    2. At the time when the first gatherings of the harvest were sacrificed to God.
    3. At the time when the harvest was completed
  2. Families could accompany them if the men so chose.
2. In the book of Psalms there is a collection of psalms (Psalm 120 to Psalm 134) that are known as the songs of ascents.
  1. These seem to be the songs sung by the Israelite pilgrims as they were going up Mt. Zion on special occasions.
  2. Listen to some of the verses in their songs as they gathered to praise and honor God.
  3. Listen to the awe.
At this time of the year many people talk about the awesome thing God did when He sent His son to live in this world.
1. It is easy to talk about the awe while we are concerned about things that have nothing to do with the awe.
  1. The month of December is an important month in our economy.
    1. In the retail business, it is the most important month of the year.
    2. What stores sell in December often determines if a business survives.
    3. But those concerns are not about the awe.
  2. Probably more family reunions occur in December than any other month of the year.
    1. For some people it is a frantic time.
    2. For some people it is a time of deep depression.
    3. For some people it is a time to renew love and relationship.
    4. But those matters are seldom about the awe.
2. Let me ask you about the awe.
  1. What do you consider to be the most awesome thing God did when He permitted His son to be born into this world?
    1. The separation when Jesus left heaven and became a human infant?
    2. The fact that God would let a part of Himself become human?
    3. The sending of a Savior to a world that did not deserve a Savior?
    4. The mercy and forgiveness that Jesus made possible?
  2. All of those are awesome, but to me something is more awesome.
  3. The most awesome thing to me is what God made possible in all human life.
    1. In many places this morning men and women are worshipping God through Christ as they sit on bamboo poles mounted in dirt floors.
      1. Many of them cannot read, never went to school, and never owned a book.
      2. They speak a language that has not yet become a written language.
      3. They are sick most of the time, and they will not live over forty years.
      4. Some of them will never travel fifty miles from the village of their birth.
      5. But God has zero problem understanding them, knowing them, or making them 100% His sons and daughters.
    2. In many places this morning men and women who are well educated and highly successful are worshipping God through Christ.
      1. They are among the most educated, intelligent people alive.
      2. They speak more than one of the most advanced languages known in the circles of the educated.
      3. They enjoy the best benefits and opportunities known on earth.
      4. They often travel to the population centers of our world.
      5. And God has zero problem understanding them, knowing them, or making them 100% His sons and daughters.
  4. Because of Jesus Christ, no person is beneath God and no person is above God.
    1. No one is too small for God to hear, understand, and help.
    2. No one is too accomplished for God to hear, understand, and help.
    3. And, to me, that is awesome!

Do you realize what that means to your life? Your life is never too small, too complicated, or too accomplished for God to understand and to help. May you look with awe at what God can do for you!

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