The Feeler

Advent: Peace

Reading by Amy Woo

Hope Refuge

Sermon Notes

The Feeler

• We are in a series asking the question, “What does it mean to be human?”
  • We saw the first few definitions from Urban dictionary last week.
    • Urban Dictionary
      • HUMAN:     “The doom of this planet.”
      • “Self-absorbed animals in clothes”
      • “A species of idiots that, unfortunately, WE ALL belong to.”
      • “The only hope for stopping this madness is the nuclear weapons arsenal”
    • HUMAN: “Incredibly arrogant creatures who seem to think that they are the only species on this planet.”
    • “A particularly noisy and destructive type of talking primate“
    • “When God decided to destroy the world. What better thing to send in than humans?”
  • For the most part, barely a positive definition and not one that I read says we are “created in the image of God”
    • Now, should I expect anything different from Urban Dictionary? Probably not. So why would I look there to define humanity? It shows what our general population actually believes about humanity.
• We also learned last week that even the bible affirms a negative view of humanity.

Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Genesis 6:5

None is righteous, no, not one  no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.  Romans 3:1-12

• Christian or not, we can all agree we need help
• But, unlike Urban Dictionary, the bible balances this negativity with another side- Hope.

How does the bible define humanity?

• People created in God’s image and likeness.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.  And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’’  Genesis 1:27–28

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Genesis 1:31

• Garden- Shalom, all things as they ought to be.
  • With God and others, harmony
    • Then why are things so broken?
      • Fall
• Why is this important?
  • Who we believe we are determines what we do.  Who we believe others are determines how we treat them.

If we forget people are created in the image of God, then we will have distain towards brokenness. If we believe people are created in the image of God then we will have compassion towards brokenness and hope for their future.  

It was that very idea of compassion that Jesus addressed to…  The Thinker

 The Feeler. 

• Emotions get a bad wrap. The influence of how people change over the years have mostly been hands and head, not leaving much for the heart.
  • When we observe world war 2 we see the process of the worker. “My country is going to war, there must be a good reason so I will do it and feel good about it.” even to the point of willingly giving their own life for the sake
  • Hands-I’m doing this so there must be a good reason & I feel good about it
  • “But there was almost no American opposition to WW II and there was a much bigger draft (then Vietnam).” Peter Flom, A statistical consultant
  • But, after WW2 medical understanding of how the mind works influenced Phycology, therapy, work ethics, and motivational speaking and the way people think was introduced to all fields so by the time the war in Vietnam came, people were not convinced it was a good idea.
• Process of the thinker -This makes sense so I feel good about it and give it a go

Generational disconnect

• Lack of understanding of “how people are influenced or change”
  • We are seeing it again as the way people feel is now making it’s way into areas of influence.  The disconnect between the thinkers and the feelers is real.
  • The same way when people protested Vietnam and the answer was “Your country is doing this so it should make sense and you should like it”
  • Now, people who say , this makes sense therefore you should do it and feel good about it are hearing “But it doesn’t feel right” and there’s a frustration growing betweenez generations.

The Feeler

In a CHristian article I read this week titled, “Can emotions be trusted” said this, “When I asked readers how they discern God’s will, several mentioned “a feeling of peace.” But a “feeling” of peace is an emotion, isn’t it? Jeremiah 17:9 says that “the heart  is deceitful above all things.” Surely we can’t trust feelings to lead us along godly paths.

Please turn to Galatians 5:16-25, page 975

• Are feelings trustworthy? Can we rely on emotions?
  • The fall effected everything.
  • Augustine who said Desire for God produces restlessness
    • How do we know God’s will?
    • The word, his people and you “feel” called.

Jesus- The fullness of the head, heart and hands.

Sermon Slides