Category Archives: Human Nature

Psalm 8 – What are we? (sermon notes)

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[Notes of a sermon preached at Holy Trinity Norwich, June, 2019]

Chemical composition

Evolutionary development

The only animal that blushes – or needs to

A speck of dust in a vast universe?

vv1,9 – Made to worship – wrapped in praise – addressed entirely to God – no petitions – we discover who we are, not by looking inwards, but by looking upwards.

vv3f – Made to wonder – not, ‘What man?’ but ‘What is man, that God, the Creator of this vast universe, should care about us?’ …

The cult of self-worship

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Self-worship is, arguably, the fastest-growing religion of our day.

According to David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons:

  • 84 percent of Americans believe that “enjoying yourself is the highest goal of life.”
  • 86 percent believe that to enjoy yourself you must “pursue the things you desire most.”
  • 91 percent affirm this statement: “To find yourself, look within yourself.”

And there is no reason to suppose that the picture is very different here in the UK.

The Westminster Catechism’s answer to the question about ‘chief end of man’ has been turned upside down: ‘the chief end of man is to glorify and enjoy himself forever.’…

Self sins

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In contrast to the modern tendency to glorify the self, Scripture urges us to beware of the many self-sins to which we are prone.

These include:

1. Self-righteousness or self-trust; as the great hindrance to the acceptance of God’s saviour and salvation (Rom 10:1-3).

2. Self-dependence or self-help. Even after conversion there is a constant tendency to rely upon our own efforts (Gal 2:20; Zech 4:6; Jn 15:4-6).

3. Self-seeking (Jer 45:5; 1 Cor 10:33).…

2 Peter 1:4 – ‘Partakers of the divine nature’

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2 Peter 1:4 ‘[God] has bestowed on us his precious and most magnificent promises, so that by means of what was promised you may become partakers of the divine nature, after escaping the worldly corruption that is produced by evil desire.’

This is one of the most striking claims in the whole of Scripture. Although the phraseology here is unique, the thought is echoed in Jn 1:12; 1 Jn 3:2-3; 1 Pet 5:1, and Rom 8:23,29.…

The unborn baby is a person

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John Stott:

‘The author of Psalm 139 looks back to the antenatal stage of his existence. Three words sum up what he affirms. First, creation. He seems to liken God both to a potter who “formed” his inmost being and to a weaver who “knit him together” in his mother’s womb (v. 13). Although the Bible makes no claim to be a textbook of embryology, here is a plain affirmation that the growth of the fetus is neither haphazard nor automatic but a divine work of creative skill.…

‘A better story’ – 12

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Our ‘better story’ for sex and marriage begins as we are welcomed into God’s reality.

Five truths underpin this.

1. God has spoken.  We no longer have to strive to construct our our ‘reality’.  God has spoken in his Son and in his Scriptures.

2. We are God’s creatures.  This is his reality, not ours.  Our nature and purpose need to be understood in the light of our creaturely dependence on him.

3. We flourish when we work with the grain of God’s reality. …

‘I believe in me’ – the gospel of expressive individualism

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‘Just be yourself’
‘Follow your heart’
‘Learn to love yourself’
‘I am strong, I am beautiful, I am me.’

Slogans such as these – which can be found in countless magazines, pop songs, movies and web sites – reflect a certain kind of individualism that has become today’s dominant creed.

One of the most blatant examples is found in this article from the BBC web site, entitled, ‘How to make 2019 the year you learn to love yourself.’ …

Why not change your name, gender AND age?

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So a 69-year-old Dutch man wants to reduce his age by 20 years.  Emile Ratelband has launched a legal battle to change his birthday from 11 March 1949 to 11 March 1969.

I guess that most people would greet this news with a smile and a shrug of the shoulders. After all, “there’s nowt as strange as folk”.

But look at Ratelband’s reasoning:- “We live in a time when you can change your name and change your gender.…

Aspects of our likeness to God

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Moral aspects

  • We are morally accountable to God.
  • We have an inner sense of right and wrong
  • We are capable of behaviour that is holy and righteous before God

Spiritual aspects

  • We have immaterial spirits
  • We have spiritual capabilities that enable us to relate to God in prayer, praise and so on
  • We have immortality

Mental aspects

  • We are capable of rational thought far in advance of any animal
  • We are capable of complex language far in advance of any animal
  • We have an awareness of the distant future; of eternity, indeed
  • We are capable of creativity in areas such as music, art, and literature
  • We are capable of rich and complex emotions

Relational aspects

  • We are capable of deep and complex relationships
  • We are capable, in marriage, of reflecting the relationship between Christ and the church
  • We have been given authority over the rest of creation, and will even judge the angels

Physical aspects

  • Our physical bodies reflect the character and purpose of God, even though he himself is immaterial
  • Our ability to produce children who are like ourselves reflects God’s ability to create human beings who are like himself

Based on Grudem, Systematic Theology

 …

Is the self to be affirmed, or repudiated?

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Christians, no less than many of their critics, can get in an awful muddle about the question of whether we are supposed to have a positive or a negative view of human nature; whether we are to affirm or repudiate it.

John Stott clarifies by noting that what we are is partly the result of our creation by God in his image, and partly the result of the defacing of that image in the Fall.  Stott explains:-

Whatever we are by creation we must affirm: our rationality, our sense of moral obligation, our sexuality (whether masculinity or femininity), our family life, our gifts of aesthetic appreciation and artistic creativity, our stewardship of the fruitful earth, our hunger for love and experience of community, our awareness of the transcendent majesty of God, and our inbuilt urge to fall down and worship him. …