Big World, Bigger God - a sermon from Noah

Good morning, Grace! My name is Noah, and I thank you for having me here today. I’m

going to spend 5 minutes or so introducing myself and what I do and then transition to

what the Lord has laid on my heart to share with y’all from Scripture. The idea crossed my mind

to preach on the rainbow, because apparently June is “Pride Month,” so I’ve seen rainbows

all over the internet, and because the rainbow comes from my very favorite Bible story.

Obviously, what the rainbow is symbolizing today is not what God gave it to us for, and so I

think would make a great sermon, but that’s not what I’m preaching on, so I will leave it at that.

Not so long ago, there was a young married man who went to seminary for no

apparent reason. He said he just wanted to study God’s Word. Well, he had a great time

in seminary, but his wife wanted to know what all these long nights of studying were for. He

said he didn’t want to be a pastor or a teacher; plus, their first child was due around the same

time that he would graduate. Graduation came, and the baby came, and then the Lord’s calling

came. He was calling them to the other side of the world, to a tiny island without power or

plumbing. You see there are many of these islands in the South Pacific where the languages

spoken have never been written and never been studied. Therefore, such peoples have never

had God’s Word in their language. God called that young man to become a Bible Translator, and

that young man is me!

So last July we joined Wycliffe Bible Translators, and we will be going to the

Solomon Islands. There are two main items any missionary needs in order to go to the

field. The first is funding. Wycliffe is not funded by any church denomination, and Bible

Translation is not a money-making venture, so Wycliffe missionaries have to develop

partnerships that will sustain our ministries. This can be a daunting task, and part of the

challenge is just having the faith to step away from regular jobs with regular paychecks. So the

average Wycliffe missionary takes about 15 months to develop a full team of partners for their

ministry. My wife and I, by the grace of God, did it in less than 3! And Grace Church is part of

that, so thank you very, very much for your partnership in this ministry of Bible Translation! And

in case I forget to say it again at the end of the message, Thank You!

The second main item any missionary needs to go to the field is training. That’s

why I am a full-time student getting a master’s degree in Applied Linguistics right now. So that I

will be fully equipped to learn, document, analyze, and translate a language that may never

have been written or studied before. One question you might have is, “Wouldn’t it be

easier to teach minority people groups major languages that already have great Bible

translations?” Well, yes, it would be easier, but it wouldn’t actually work. Imagine there’s no

Bible in English and you would have to learn Swahili or Russian to read the Bible. Even if you

mustered the resources and the effort to learn Swahili or Russian, that language would never

mean as much to you as your birth language. The language you’re born and raised in is

forever part of your heritage and identity. Another way to look at it is that the good news of

the gospel belongs to minority people groups just as much as it belongs to major people

groups. That’s why we do Bible Translation, and that’s why I’m doing Linguistic

training.

(This has been an overview of who we are and what we’re doing. I’d love to tell you

more, and I’d love to answer your questions, but from the pulpit I’d like to share what God’s

laid on my heart. I want to talk about God’s Word; I want this to be about Him, not me.)

I’m still trying to wrap my mind around moving to the other side of the

world. [slide] It’s a lot to process. So one evening there was a colorful sunset, and I

stood outside watching it for a little while. And I got to thinking about how far away the clouds

were and how much farther the horizon was and how much farther the Solomon Islands were.

It’s a big world! 1 But ya know what? The God who made that sunset, those clouds, those islands

– He’s bigger! So the title of today’s message is Big World, Bigger God. I don’t really

have any application or call to action built into this sermon; its purpose is simply for us to

remember how great God is and rejoice in that! One of the most frequent commands in

the Bible is to “remember.” There’s no action inherent in remembering. It’s just acknowledging

something that’s true.

A little while ago I took a picture of a page in my baby’s Bible and posted it on

Facebook because I thought it was particularly insightful and important. Here it is: [slide]

1 I know it’s getting ‘smaller’ with more technology, more travel, more people on the planet, blah blah blah, but it

really is a big world. There are 7.7 billion people in the world. Every single person on earth including babies could

have 1.7 acres all to themself. Average family (4.9) could have 8 acres all to themselves. To get a visual of how

many people 7.7 billion is, imagine everyone standing with their arms out touching fingertip to fingertip, forming a

human chain. This chain could stretch around the world at its widest point almost 300 times. That’s a lot of people.

Not only is the earth big, but its population is big, and that’s important because we’re going to come back to the

fact that God loves every single person. That’s a big love.

“Some people think the Bible is a book of rules, telling you what you

should and shouldn’t do. The Bible certainly does have some rules in it;

they show you how life works best. But the Bible isn’t mainly about you

and what you should be doing. It’s about God and what He has done!” 2

That’s the point of this message – to remember who God is and rejoice in what He’s done.

Let’s pray. “I come to your altar, O Lord, singing a song of

thanksgiving and telling of all your wonders. I love your sanctuary, Lord,

the place where your glorious presence dwells (Ps 26:6-8 NLT). Praise

be to you, Lord, the God of our father Israel, from everlasting to

everlasting. Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory

and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is

yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.

Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In

your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.

Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name (1

Chron 29:10-13 NIV). May your unfailing love be with us, Lord, even as

we put our hope in You” (Ps 33:22 NIV).

I want to share from Scripture three ways that the world is big, but God is

bigger. Our main test is going to be Psalm 33. If you would turn there and highlight or

underline as you feel led, that would make me happy. I’m going to read a good bit of

Scripture this morning because I believe there is nothing like the Word of God.

The first point is ‘Great creation – greater Creator’ (and yes, that

rhymes). Creation is awesome because the Creator is awesome. I’m going to read three

passages from Job. Sit back and listen to what the Bible says. Job 9:1-12 and 38:31-

37 and 41:1-11 The theme of this passage is the sea monster Leviathan, and the exact

historical or biological identity of Leviathan is a different subject, but the main point is in

2 Sally Lloyd-Jones, The Jesus Storybook Bible, 2007.

verse 10 and verse 11. If God’s creation is so fierce and awesome that it cannot be

tamed, how much more so the Creator? And you might think ‘well, we’ve done a pretty great

job taming creation.’ Hold on. As far as we know, the biggest, baddest dinosaurs and other

‘monsters’ mostly died of natural causes, and that’s just considering animals. Have we tamed

earthquakes, hurricanes, and tsunamis? No, and I don’t think we ever will.

Also take note of verse 11, which is kind of the main point of the whole book of

Job. Everything belongs to God. Who are we to question what He does with it and with us?

Creation is pretty awesome. Even just you and I, the human body and its intricate design, and

our personalities, and everything we can do. But our greatness is like a shadow of

God’s greatness!

I’m going to read a couple Psalms, first Psalm 8, then Psalm 33. Psalm 8 Often

when my grandpa prays, he will say something very similar to verses 3 and 4, [reread them],

and this is something I like to reflect on as well. As big and awesome as creation is, and as big

and awesome as God the creator is, how amazing is it that He pays attention to

us? This is good for us to remember. This is good for us to rejoice in.

Psalm 33 Consider verse 6 with me for a minute. [reread it] “starry host” just

means all the stars. ‘Host’ is a word for a really big quantity. Astronomers estimate that there

are 100 million stars in the average galaxy (such as our galaxy the Milky Way). And they

estimate there are 2 trillion galaxies – not stars, galaxies – in observable space. That

means there are more stars in the sky than there are grains of sand on all the beaches in the

world. And God just breathed them into existence like it was no big deal. There is no limit to

His power. That’s why we call Him ‘the Almighty.’ And you might have noticed I said,

“observable space.” We have not found the edge of the universe. For all we know, creation

may be infinite.

Psalm 147:4-5 Does verse four mean that God literally has a unique name

for every single star? Maybe it does; maybe it doesn’t (there are other ways to interpret

this verse), but we can say this without a shadow of a doubt: it is entirely possible for

God to name 200 quintillion stars because unlike us, His greatness is infinite. There is

no limit to His understanding!

Isaiah 40:28 What does it mean that God’s understanding is

unsearchable? Well, let me give you an illustration to hold onto. Finding the

depth of God’s understanding and wisdom would be like finding the boundary of

the universe. As far as we know, there is no limit to it. And even if we found one, it

would take any human an eternity to get there. So you might say that God’s

understanding is ‘unsearchable’ in the same way that the universe is unsearchable.

What little we know of it amazes us!

The second point is ‘Great guilt, greater Grace.’ Not only is the world a

big place, but the world has a big problem. It’s called sin. Is God bigger than sin? Say yes. Is God

bigger than all the world’s problems? Say yes. There is no problem that the world will ever

present that God does not have an answer to. In fact, the Bible is clear that God knew

before He created us that world would incur great guilt. And He predestined that He

should show us an even greater Grace. This is why the Bible calls Jesus Christ our Savior,

“the Lamb slain before the creation of the world.” 3 Isaiah 53:5-6

1 John 2:2

Does this mean that everyone is saved? No, of course not. This means that Christ’s

sacrifice is of infinite value and can therefore cover any number of sins from

any number of people. What’s the greatest gift ever given? Jesus Christ! The Father

gave the Son; the Son gave His life; and when the Son returned to heaven, the

Father gave the Spirit. All of this goes to prove the point that has been well-stated

many times: ‘You cannot out-give God!’

Another great passage on God’s infinite grace is Romans 3:23-24 - you probably

know verse 23 by heart – “for all have sinned and…” but do you know the verse next

door? [slide] David Platt said too often we memorize the bad news but not the good news.

So I took this picture from a Wycliffe devotional and made a slide out of it. The world’s

great guilt is verse 23. God’s greater grace is verse 24. “And all are

justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (I’ve been

working on my Bible memorization in case you can’t tell).

(So we’ve covered two ways that the world is big, but God is bigger. Creation is great

and awesome, but God is a greater Creator and more awesome. The world has great guilt, but

God has greater grace. We know both of those pretty well, but they’re always good to

3 Rev. 13:8

remember and to rejoice in. This third way that the world is big, but God is bigger is a little

different, something you may not have thought about much.)

The third point is ‘Great work, greater Word.” And what I mean by great work is the

mission that the Lord has given His Church. And what I mean by His Church is the

worldwide interdenominational body of true believers. (So I am not just talking about

Grace Church or Evangelical Congregationals or Baptist or Protestants or Americans). I could

preach a whole message on this concept, but suffice it to say for now that all who worship

the one true God in spirit and in truth are in this together. There are

probably more believers in China now than there are in America, and Chinese believers are just

as much heirs to God’s glory and to God’s mission as we American believers are.

And what is the mission? “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All

authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and

make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and

of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I

have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of

the age’ (Matthew 20:18-20). He said to them: ‘It is not for you to know

the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will

receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my

witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of

the earth’ (Acts 1:7-8). This good news of the kingdom will be preached

in the whole world as a testimony to every people, and then the end

will come” Matthew 24:14. To preach the word and to make disciples of all peoples to

the very ends of the earth is a very big mission. It’s a lot of work, right?

But God’s Word – His promises – are greater than the work He’s given us. Even in

those verses I just read – in each one – there’s a promise – a reassurance for us. Jesus has all

authority and will be with us always. We have the power of the Holy Spirit. And the last verse is

a prophecy. It’s not a maybe – it’s not an if – “the good news of the kingdom WILL be

preached in the WHOLE world. Do you know how we know that this is true? Because its His

work that he’s delegated to us, the same way as He’s given us dominion over His

creation. But its not our land. It’s not our money. It’s God’s. It’s all God’s. The same way with

our salvation. It’s not our righteousness – it’s His righteousness. The same way with the mission

of the Church – it wasn’t our idea to go to the ends of the earth, it was God’s idea! And praise

the Lord we get to be a part of it. And praise the Lord that the end results don’t rest on us –

He’s the guarantor! Mordecai said, ‘Make no mistake – if you don’t go, God will save His people

another way, but He’s put you here for a reason!’ 4

On the same train of thought is Matthew 5:18.

The power, the authority, and the sufficiency of God’s Word will never fail until it is no

longer needed, that is, until we the Church see Christ our Savior face to face and no

longer need a written revelation of Him.

Let’s go back to Psalm 33, and we’ll end there. Verses 10-11 contrast God’s

purposes and man’s purposes.

 What would you say sinful man’s mission is?

 “Sinful man’s mission is to make much of himself. But the Church’s mission is

to make much of God!” (John 3:29-30 “He must increase; I must decrease.”)

Are you living for your own purposes or for God’s purposes? That’s

a deep question, but it’s an important one. Are you living for your own purposes or for God’s

purposes? Take a look at verses 13-15 for a second. It says that God considers

everything you do. I’ll tell you why He watches us. He watches us to see who trusts Him

and who lives in simple obedience to Him. Not because He wants to zap us, but because He

loves us and wants to see us do well, similar to the way you watch your own children and want

to see them do well. Psalm 33:18-22 [read it]. Our Greater Creator has given us

a great creation, a great grace, and a great work to do. Praise our Creator who

made such a big world. And rejoice that He is bigger and better than we can even comprehend!

Pray: “Yours, LORD, is the greatness and the power

    and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,

    for everything in heaven and earth is yours.

Yours, LORD, is the kingdom;

    you are exalted as head over all.

Now, our God, we give you thanks,

    and praise your glorious name.” 1 Chron 29:11,13

4 Esther 4:14 paraphrase

Original Notes

Tell outline. Mention Rainbow?

Introduce myself and my calling (5 min)

Kids’ Bible page

Pray: David’s prayer from 1 Chronicles 29:11ff

Three ways the world is big, but God is bigger

1. Creation is awesome because the Creator is awesome.

“Great Creation, Greater Creator”

Job 9:1-12 and 38:31-37 and 41:1-11

 on chpt 41: two main points: vss 10 + 11. rest of chapter describes Lev.

Anselm: “God is that, than which nothing greater can be conceived”

In other words, God is the greatest possible being.

Psalm 8

Psalm 33

 33:6 and Grandpa.

 100 million stars in the average galaxy (such as Milky Way). 2 trillion galaxies

in observable space. More than the number of grains of sand on all the

seashores of the world.

 Psalm 147:4-5 Does verse 4 mean that God literally has a unique name for

every single star? Maybe it does; maybe it doesn’t; there are other ways to

interpret that verse, but we can say this without a shadow of a doubt: it is

entirely possible for God to name quadrillions of stars because unlike us, His

greatness is infinite. There is no limit to His understanding!

 Isaiah 40:28 What does it mean that God’s understanding is

unsearchable? Well, let me give you an illustration to hold onto. Finding the

depth of God’s understanding and wisdom would be like finding the

boundary of the universe. As far as we know, there is not limit to it. And even

if we found one, it would take any human an eternity to get there. So you

might say that God’s understanding is ‘unsearchable’ in the same way that

the universe is unsearchable. What little we know of it amazes us!

Psalm 145

2. The world has a big need; God provided a bigger answer.

“Great Guilt; Greater Grace”

Isaiah 53:5

1 John 2:2

 Does this mean that everyone is saved? No, of course not. This means that

Christ’s sacrifice is of infinite value and can therefore cover any number of

sins from any number of people. What’s the greatest given? Jesus Christ! The

Father gave the Son; the Son gave His life; and when the Son returned to

heaven, the Father gave the Spirit. All of this goes to prove the point that has

been well-stated many times over: ‘You cannot out-give God!’

Romans 3:23-24 - Do you know the verse next door?

3. God gave us a big mission to reach the world, and He is more than able to fulfill it.

“Great Work; Greater Word”

Matthew 5:18

The power, the authority, and the sufficiency of God’s Word will never fail until it is no

longer needed, that is, until we the Church see Christ our Savior face to face and no longer need

a written revelation of Him.

Psalm 33:10-11 on God’s purpose vs man’s purpose.

 “What’s is sinful man’s mission? Have you considered it?”

 “Sinful man’s mission is to make much of man. The Church’s mission is to

make much of God!”

The sufficiency of God’s Word and God’s plan always remind me of my own story. When

I was a senior in high school, I honestly had no career aspirations. I did not know what I wanted

to do. The only passion I had was the Word of God. I did not feel called to be a pastor or a

teacher, but I would tell people I wanted to be a Bible professor just to satisfy the ever present

question of career choice. I worked a couple ordinary jobs in shipping and pursued my passion

through Bible college and Seminary with no particular career in mind. But God had a plan for

me.

My point is not to hold myself up as some sort of example. My point is that God desires

simple obedience, and we can leave the results up to Him. Psalm 33:10-11. Are you living your

life for your purposes or for God’s purposes? That’s kind of a deep question. But it’s a very

important one. Psalm 33:12-15. God considers everything you do. That’s a powerful image. Do

you think He watches us to see what great ideas we have? No. Verses 10 and 11 contrasted

people’s plans with God’s plans, right? He already knows what’s best. Do you think He watches

so He can zap us when we’re out line? No!

He watches us to see who trusts Him and who lives in simple obedience. Psalm 33:18-

22. Praise our Creator who made such a big world. And rejoice that He is bigger and better than

we can even comprehend!