MAN'S GREATNESS BECAUSE OF GRACE

As the writer of the 8th Psalm meditates upon the greatness and the majesty of God, he considers all the work of His hands; the sun, moon and the stars. He is made to think of the honor bestowed upon the creature called man.
In the fourth verse we can almost hear the awe in his voice as he says, "What is man, that thou art mindful of him: and the son of man that thou visitest him?"

When we consider the high aspirations of God for man, who was to be the crowning glory of His creation, our minds truly are staggered. Man was made in the image of God that he should show forth God's Glory. He was made upright that he might fellowship a Holy God. The wealth of the entire universe cannot match the value of one single soul of the creature called `man'. The angels, though they be great in might and power, and praise him continually before His throne, have never been privileged to be called the friend of God.

It is true that man in his natural, present condition is called the enemy of God, but this is man's own doing and not the will of his creator. He had in mind higher things for man, than that he should spend his days mired in sin, plagued with wars and disease, struggling against heart-break and with the specter of death constantly staring over his shoulder.

What happened that man, who had been created to commune with God, is suddenly subject to every evil? The answer is simply SIN. Rom 5:12 "For as by one man sin entered into the world, so death passed upon all man, for that all have sinned!"

Think of the loss to the human race even in terms of material blessings, that man, who was made to have dominion over the whole of creation is suddenly barred from its most desirable garden. The spiritual blessings intended for man are beyond our comprehension! Will God, who had such high purpose for man, now leave him floundering helplessly in sin?

Our thoughts go to that event in the life of Jeremiah when he was told to go down to the potter's house, where he saw the potter at work on a vessel, and he says in Jer 18:4 "and the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter, so he made it again another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make it."
How like this, is the love of our God! It might have been easy for Him to have simply erased man and created another creature, but His love for man and man's high potential, as God's friend and companion wouldn't allow it. So He provided a way, a plan of salvation, through which man could still exercise that free will that set him apart from all the rest of creation, and be restored someday to all those blessings from which he now is separated by sin. And so, Jno 3:17 He sent His son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might have life.
Christ did far more than demonstrate to man how he should live. It is true that in His life He was perfect, and that He lived the kind of life in communion with God that had been intended for all mankind, but, simply showing man that it could be done was not enough, just as it isn't enough for one who is dying to be shown that there are others who are in good health! The cause of man's degraded condition must be removed if he is to again enjoy that lofty condition for which he was created. And so, I Pet 3:18 "Christ died for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God." The problem of sin is solved. The way back to fellowship with God is opened!

Christ not only left us an example that we should follow him in his life, but paid the penalty for the disobedience which had plunged man into the despair of enmity with God. And thus, we might be restored to our intended fellowship with Him! But again, it is not enough to know the answer to the problem of sin. The answer MUST be applied.

Man must first of all, realize his condition; that he IS a sinner and that he is separated from God, and that this is NOT what God intended for him.
Then he must learn that it is NOT NECESSARY for him to remain in his present condition, which not only makes him miserable now, but condemns him eternally.
He must learn that while he cannot free himself from sin, Rom 8:3 "God, sending His own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, condemned sin in the flesh."
Then, the remedy for sin MUST be applied.
It is not enough that man demands that his dignity be recognized by his fellow man. He needs his real dignity restored through Christ!
Think of these words of John, in I Jno 3:1"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God." Here is a place of honor far above any that man could possibly bestow. Friend of God? Yes, and far, far more than a friend. I am His son, having been born of His Spirit in receiving Christ as my savior.

Having been saved now by his grace I can not only join the Psalmist in thinking with awe upon the wonders of the future possibilities, but my present possibilities, position and responsibilities as well. Listen to John again,
I Jno 3:2 "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be..." This is the present position of those who have availed themselves of the remedy of sin, BUT, this is not all there is to being a Christian. Listen to Paul, I Cor 3:9 "We are laborers together with God!" Not only objects of His wondrous love and recipients of his marvelous salvation, but offered the privilege of joining Him in His work!

We thank God for those men whose knowledge and ingenuity have, through invention and discovery, brought such blessings upon the human race, but mans greatest potential is not reached in the laboratory, the operating room or the market place, but as he labors with God in HIS vineyard. The senator who said, "I value my seat in my Sunday School above my seat in the Senate" elevates that senate seat to new heights. This is our purpose as a Church, to provide those who are saved, a place to work in God's work and so fulfill their responsibilities to God, themselves and their fellow man by doing God's will.
We have heard much about the so called `mind-expanding' drugs in past years, but there is nothing which can expand the mind of man as the comprehension of the dimensions of the love of God toward us! What heights of service could we reach if we could only learn to abandon ourselves to the love of God!

My Co-Worker

If no man stood beside me
In the vineyard of the Lord,
And I labored without earthly friend
To take the lost His Word,

Still I'd have a helper,
I'd not struggle on alone,
For the Lord would bear the heaviest
Of the work, and lead me on.

He lets me serve Him; blessed privilege!
He lets me serve Him; glorious thought!
(From man's weak puny efforts,
What wonders He has wrought!)

Side by side in labor,
As I follow His command,
He never shall forsake me,
And I feel His guiding hand.

My burden's always lighter
When I labor with the Lord,
And serve Him in His vineyard
According to His Word!

FCCreel

Yet, however high a plane of service and fellowship with God we might reach now, it can never be compared with Rom 8:18 "the glory that shall be ours hereafter."

When those of us who have trusted Christ as their savior are changed from our present state and given bodies fashioned like unto His glorious body, then and only then, will we have realized the fullness of our potential as those created in the image of God. Perhaps then, these prospects of man which caused the Psalmist to exclaim, "What is man?" will be real to us. We can only speculate now, as to the details of that time but we need not to speculate on this; I Tim 2:4 God would have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
God desires that his people serve him now with joy, and that Christ who once came and died for the sins of the world, will someday come and then any little suffering that we might have to undergo now for His name's sake will pale into insignificance.