Who am I?

That is the question that bugs the whole of humanity.

“Who am I really?”
“Tell me what my purpose is!”
“I want to get in touch with the real me!”
“When we think of the entire cosmos, where do I fit in?”

The bible asks that question – and the bible answers that question.

Have you ever noticed that when you read the bible, you find that one part of the bible explains another part of the bible? We’re going to check out Psalm 8. The writer of this psalm has obviously been reading Genesis 1, and it leads him to ask an obvious question:

“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?”
Psalm 8: 3-4

When you look at the whole universe – and you see how big it is, how spectacular it is, how powerful, how complex, how enormous … Who are we? What is it about us that would cause God to care for us?

Now – what answer are you expecting? If you didn’t know what line came next in Psalm 8, what would be the normal answer to this question?

“Compared to the whole universe – I’m nothing.”
“An insignificant speck!”
“There’s God – then there’s the angels and the heavenly beings – then there’s the galaxies, and the solar systems, and the whole of life as we know it - then there’s me.”
“Insignificant.”
“Compared to the whole of the cosmos – I’m nothing.”

Do you ever feel like that? That compared with the wonders of creation – compared with the annals of cosmic history – compared with the accomplishments of myriads of civilisations – that basically – I don’t stack up too well?

If we read on in Psalm 8, God gives an amazing answer as to where you fit into to the whole of his cosmos.

1.         God crowns me with honour

“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?”
Psalm 8: 3-4

Here’s the answer in the next verse!

“You made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honour.”
Psalm 8:5

Have you got it? In the scope of the entire cosmos …

First there’s God …
Then there are the angels …
Then there’s YOU …
And then there’s everything else.

God has made you just a little lower than the angels, and has crowned you with glory and honour!  We often talk about how important it is that we give glory and honour to God. And yes – that is important.  But this verse is talking about how God gives glory and honour to you. When God designed you, he created you to be a person who is worthy of great glory and great honour.

One more time … just so you get it straight …

First there’s God …
Then there are the angels …
Then there’s YOU …
And then there’s everything else.

Just let that soak in for a moment.  Rather than putting you near the bottom of his food chain, God has given you one of the highest places in his universe. Just below the angels.

Is that how you think of yourself?  Is that the standard you have set for yourself? Is that the way you live? As a person whom God has given one of the highest places to – and a person whom he has crowned with glory and honour?

But wait – there’s more …  Check out the very next verses …

2.         God puts me in charge

“You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet; all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.”
Psalm 8:6-8

“God has put everything under your feet”.  Can you grab what that means?

Have you ever seen a wrestling match? One that is almost a fight to the finish? A match that keeps going until one contestant is pinned helpless on the ground?  How does the victor show that they has won? How do they demonstrate that they are superior?

They stand tall over their fallen competitor and place one of their own feet on top of them. It’s a moment of victory. It’s a moment of declaring who is in charge.  That’s what it means to place something under your feet.

So – what has God placed under your feet?  Look back at verse 6:

“You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet.”
Psalm 8:6

God has placed everything else in all creation under your feet. You are in charge of everything else God has created.

Who – me?
Yes, you!

Has God really placed everything under my feet?  Read on …

Did you know that when God designed you – he planned for you to be free?  Did you know that when God created you, he formed you to perfection with an inbuilt freedom?

Let’s look in the bible to see the magnificent person that God has designed you to be.


1.         God made me in his image

“Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness’ …
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”
Genesis 1: 26-27

Did you get what God is saying about you? You have been hand-crafted by a master designer – you are created in God’s image. Sounds good. But what does it mean to be an image of something?

Have a look at this photo.  Do you know who that is? That is my wife, Karen. Clear enough?

Technically, of course, what you see in front of you is not my wife, Karen.  My wife Karen is here with me in our house in Sydney Australia. What you looking at on the screen is not actually my wife – it is an image of my wife.  My wife is much larger and way more lifelike than what is on your computer. She is three dimensional – and made out of real flesh and blood. She is a genuine human being. What you are looking at is a collection of pixels. Little blips on a computer screen. What you see before you is not my wife.  It is an image of my wife.

It looks exactly like my wife. It reflects fairly accurately what she is like. But it is not my wife.  It is an image or a reflection of my wife. So, what does it mean that you are made in God’s image? Does it mean that you look exactly the same as God? That somehow God looks just like you?

No!

Being in God’s image doesn’t mean that God has made you to look like he does. But it means God has made you to be like he is! You’re meant to have the same sort of characteristics that God has.

If God is loving, you are designed to be loving.
If God is forgiving, you are designed to be forgiving.
If God hates sin – you are designed to hate sin.
If God is generous, you are designed to be generous.

It’s almost as if God said: “I am going to make some creatures who will be able to show everyone what I am like. When people look at these human beings, they’ll get a picture of the sort of God that I am.”

That’s who you are. You were created in God’s image. That means when people see you – they get an idea of what God is like. Can I just say that again so that it sinks in?  Why did God create you? So that when people see you, they get an idea of what God is really like.

Wow! You get to show other people the wonders of our magnificent God! Let me now show you one of the main ways that God says you are just like him.

2.         God made me to rule his world.

“Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’”
Genesis 1:26

If God says that the reason he made you was so that you would be able to show the world what he is like … then the main way you are to show what God is like is that he has designed you to rule over all the rest the world. God wants you to help run his world the same way that he would run it.

God has given you the freedom to be a world ruler but only because of who he made you to be. He has made you to be in his image. You have the freedom to run this world – while you do it the way God does. You are free to be the person that God has designed you to be - provided that you stay dependent on him. Your freedom to be truly you is absolutely tied up with you remaining reliant on God. If you throw away being dependent on him – you throw away your freedom.

It’s like walking in front of the mirror. What you see in the mirror is an image of yourself. If you throw away the mirror, the image is no longer there.

In the same way, you are made in the image of God. You reflect what God is like. But if you say: “I don’t want to do things God’s way” - “I don’t want God in the picture”- then if you move your mirror away from God, his image can no longer be seen in you. You are only free to be the person that God has designed when you keep reflecting his image by being totally dependent on him.

You might be wanting to say to me: “What do you mean? To be free I have to depend on God? I thought the whole idea of being free was that I didn’t have to depend on anyone?”

Let’s just backtrack for a minute.  Perhaps you misunderstand what freedom really is. You have been created with an inbuilt dependency on God. If you stop depending on him – you lose your freedom.

How can this be?

It’s like a train – a locomotive engine. When you design a train – it has an inbuilt dependency on the rails. That’s the way it’s designed! While the train stays dependent on the rails, it is free to be a train.

Let’s imagine that the train has been around for a few years. It's sort of going through puberty, and it’s getting sick of being told what to do, and it just wants to do its own thing.

“Why do I have to go where those stupid rails tell me to go?”
“I wanna go where I wanna go!”
“I wanna be free!”

So the train decides to do its own thing. It goes off the rails. It wants to go and look through the shopping mall. It wants to go through the McDonald’s drive-thru. It wants to go and play on the beach.

Just imagine for a moment that a train could do that.  If a train could go off the rails – and just meander wherever it felt like, what do you think would happen to that train? It’s going to grind to a halt quick smart! It’s going to smash into things. It’s going to get bogged down. If that train goes off the rails and does its own thing, it’s going nowhere.

As soon as it goes off the rails – it grinds to a halt.
As soon as it goes off the rails – it loses its freedom to be a train.
Because it was designed with an inbuilt dependency on those rails.

In the same way, you have been designed with an inbuilt dependency on God. Sometimes you can think that being free is going off the rails with God and just doing whatever you feel like. But as soon as you give up depending on God for your every breath … as soon as you give up depending on God for your every step …

You lose your freedom to be truly human.
You get bogged down in your own sin.
You smash into relationships and destroy them.
You have been designed with an inbuilt dependency on God.
When you give up depending on him – you lose your freedom.

God gave you that freedom. He has made you as a world ruler. And he makes everything in the world for you to enjoy. Not only has God designed you to be free. He has also designed you to be the best!

If you visit a Disney attraction, you will notice a value which pervades everything else. Excellence is everywhere!

This goes against many of the thoughts about excellence that I grew up with:

• "You can't be excellent at everything."  
  
• "Focus on your strengths and let someone else look after the rest." 
• "Pick your central theme - be excellent at that - and the other things will fall into place".
  

Really? Is excellence something that I have to reserve for special occasions? Do I have a limit on the excellence I can produce - so I need to be careful to apportion it sparingly?

Aristotle put it this way: "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then is not an act, but a habit." Is it possible - that in our churches, we have reverted to having excellence as an occasional act, rather than an all-pervading habit?

Disney doesn't always get things right. But you would be a harsh critic not to notice their commitment to excellence in everything.

There are four Disney theme parks in Orlando. My wife and I needed to travel between two of them. Disney runs an all-day shuttle service between its four properties. Shuttle buses are hardly Disney's core business. Their core business is the theme parks. The shuttle buses are merely a logistical necessity.

But everything about the shuttle bus exuded excellence. The driver welcomed us warmly. The bus was in great shape. As we pulled out from the kerb, a commentary came on the PA. "You are riding the Disney Transportation System. Our buses are maintained to the highest possible standard ..."  And so it went. Yes - they gave us the information we needed, but everything about that bus ride made us believe that for those people involved in this 'ancillary' service, that bus ride was the most important part of our day. And they were going to do whatever it took to make it work for us.

Martin Luther King Jr put it this way: “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”

The bible puts it this way:  "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working fir the Lord, not for men." (Colossians 3:23) 

So here's the question: Who better understands the exhortation to do everything with excellence - The Disney Corporation - or the Church?

Years ago, as a youth pastor, we ran a weekly youth group. We honestly wanted to hit the standard of excellence. Central to the night was the preaching of God's word. We wanted that to be excellent. We set a standard for our preaching to be "world class".

As part of the night, we had a canteen, where our high-schoolers could purchase refreshments and snacks. We called it "The Snack Shack". Was this central to our ministry? Was it our core business? Hardly. It was a side-issue. But our aim was to make it the best Snack Shack that our high schoolers had ever experienced. This meant we had a leader whose only job was to head up the Snack Shack. That meant that they spent a few hours each week researching new products and stocking the shelves. That meant that our leaders who helped serve on that team weren't just there to process a transaction; their aim was to build relationships with the students during their experience of spending time with us.

So, at your church, is excellence an act - or is it a habit? Is it an action - or is it an attitude? Is it reserved for special events - or is it all-pervasive? Do you aim for excellence only in the things you think are central (your preaching, your music etc), or does your whole team have an attitude of excellence in everything?  What experience will your guests have in the car-park?  In your restrooms? At your coffee machine? On your website? In your church office? At the rego desk for your children's ministry?

Who better understands the exhortation to do everything with excellence - The Disney Corporation - or your Church?


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Quicklinks to the five commitments:
1.     Embrace your guests: Every staff member knows their real job
2.     Embrace Excellence
3.     Embrace the unexpected
4.     Embrace the future
5.     Embrace possibility thinking

Earlier this year, my wife and were in Orlando Florida for a week. So we bought a 4 day Disney Pass, and spent 4 days exploring the 4 Disney theme parks in that part of the world. This was not my first trip to a Disney location, and once again I was impressed not only with the parks themselves, but with the vision, the training, the staff and the focus on the visitor.

Disney is not perfect. Far from it. But I want to explore 5 things the church could learn from Disney. Here's the first:

1.     Every staff member knows their real job

At The Magic Kingdom, we had managed to get ourselves lost. There was a particular exhibit that we wanted to explore, and we had no idea of how to find it. I interrupted a cleaner who was busy picking up litter, and asked him for directions. He stopped what he was doing, and with a broad grin on his face, he gave me clear directions. He then handed me a map from his satchel, and showed us the best way to get there. He glanced at his watch and added “If you go straight to the centre auditorium, you’ll be in time for the main show. Don’t miss it! It is well worth seeing!”

You see, he knew his job. His badge might have said “Cleaner”,  but he knew that his real job was to help make every visitor’s experience of the park the best possible. This was true of every staff member we encountered.  They might happen to be a ride operator, a cast member, a cloak room attendant or one of the maintenance staff - but they known that their real job is a ‘people’ job. They own the vision - they reflect the vision - they enjoy the vision.

If you’ve every encountered a Disney staff member, every single one is an expert on everything in the park. You can approach a cleaner, a restroom attendant, a waitress, a security guard - and a number of things become evident:

• They have a comprehensive knowledge of everything in the park
• They own the whole vision
• They never say “I’m sorry - that’s not my department”
• Their sole focus in to enhance the experience of the guest

That’s why Disney puts some of their best ‘people’ staff on their cleaning team. In the early days, I understand that Walt hired outside contractors to take care of things like car parking, security and other ‘sundry’ roles in his park. But he quickly changed that when he realised that he wanted everyone to own the central vision. Walt once said, “I tell the security police that they are never to consider themselves cops. They are there to help people. The visitors are our guests. Once you get the policy going, it grows.”

So, how’s it going at your church?

• Is every member of your staff and volunteer team committed to the overall vision of your church. Do they own it? Do they reflect it? Do they enjoy it?
• Or are they only focussed on their particular narrow role?
• Does your staff and volunteer training give them the information and empowerment they need to genuinely serve your members and visitors?
• If a newcomer came to your church, and encountered some of your volunteers on their journey, would they have an experience such as I had at Disney?
• Do your staff and volunteers know their real job? That in everything they do, they are in the people business - to bring people to Christ, grow them in his community, and equip them to go and minister in his name?

Who owns their vision more?  The Disney team - or your church ministry team? 
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Quicklinks to the five commitments:
1.     Embrace your guests: Every staff member knows their real job
2.     Embrace Excellence
3.     Embrace the unexpected
4.     Embrace the future
5.     Embrace possibility thinking