How Great is God in Our Bodies
Speaker: Pastor Darin Browne
Last week we saw that God is unbelievably awesome as revealed in the heavens. The sheer magnitude of the planets completely blew our minds, and all we could do is say “How great is our God!” After the meeting Dr. Francois said to me, you should consider the greatness of God in in our bodies, and I took that as a word from the Lord to do just that.
So today I want to continue the wonder and awesomeness of God by looking inwards rather than outwards at the constellations, supernovae, solar systems, and galaxies. Today I want to show you how great God is by looking at our bodies.
WHAT IS MAN?
How do I bridge from last week’s God who created, stars, planets, galaxies, and supernovae to a God who is intensely interested and loving towards each of us. Seems Isaiah got there a little ahead of me…
Isaiah 44:24 (ESV)
Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: “I am the LORD, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself,
God created mind blowingly enormous worlds, and yet He also formed you in the womb. Today, instead of being overwhelmed by the enormity of God’s handiwork in the heavens, I want you to be blessed by God’s intricate and astonishing creation within your own body. (Thanks Francois)
Psalms 8:3-4 (ESV)
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon, and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?
FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE
God says you are fearfully and wonderfully made. You’re not an accident, you’re not a freak, you’re not a soulless bag of chemicals. David wrote,
Psalms 139:14 (ESV)
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
LET’S START WITH DNA
DNA is deoxyribonucleic acid, the basic building blocks of life. God created unbelievably huge galaxies, but also created unbelievably complex, tiny strands of genetic material which from generation to generation influences our destinies. Long before DNA was discovered, Jeremiah wrote…
Jeremiah 1:5 (ESV)
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
God has had a plan for Jeremiah, and also for, you since before you were born, a spiritual DNA, a destiny. God has always had every part of your life planned out, but we often don’t listen to Him, don’t obey, and lose our destiny. The world says your DNA determines your destiny, but God, who arranges your DNA, says that ultimately your choices determine your destiny, influenced often by you DNA.
99.9% of DNA in humans is identical, and it’s only the 0.1% that makes us individuals. We actually share 95% of our DNA with primates, and 50% of our DNA with bananas. If we unravelled the DNA in a human, it would stretch 10 billion miles, a return trip from here to Pluto and back. We are fearfully and wonderfully made!
DNA is in the shape of a double helix and contains only four building blocks or nucleotides: guanine, adenine, thymine, and cytosine. A single chromosome has anywhere between 50 million and 250 million base pairs. So from endless combinations of these four nucleotides, we get all the genetic information that shapes our physical lives.
EVOLUTION’S A HARD CELL
The human body has 100 trillion cells, and each cell contains about two metres of DNA. Every cell has 23 pairs of chromosomes, but I want you to catch a glimpse of how our amazingly God designed us. We think we are pretty clever as human beings, but all digital information in the entire world could be stored on two grams of DNA. That’s how amazing God is!
So how can such wonder evolve? The answer is it can’t. It takes less faith to believe in God than to believe that everything we see was a chance encounter between a couple of wayward nucleotides in a primal soup a few million years ago.
Genesis 1:1 (ESV)
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
One scientist suggested that the probability of a strand of DNA arranging itself in the right sequence to created life is one in ten to the 400,000 power. It’s about the same chance of you winning the lottery every day for 15 billion years. Researcher Sir Fred Hoyle said that supposing the first cell originated by chance is like believing “a tornado sweeping through a junk yard might assemble a Boeing 747 from the materials therein.”
PROTEIN AND AN AMINO ACID SLOT MACHINE
No one really knows, but there may be as many as a million types of protein in the human body, and each one is a little miracle. By all the laws of probability proteins shouldn’t exist. To make a protein you need to assemble amino acids…in a particular order, in much the same way that you assemble letters in a particular order to spell a word.
To make collagen, for example, you need to arrange 1,055 amino acids in precisely the right sequence. The chances of this happening spontaneously are, frankly, nil. To grasp what a long shot its existence is, visualise a standard Las Vegas slot machine but broadened greatly – to about 27m to be precise – to accommodate 1,055 spinning wheels instead of the usual three or four, and with twenty symbols on each wheel (one for each common amino acid).
How long would you have to pull the handle before all 1,055 symbols came up in the right order? Effectively forever. Even if you reduced the number of spinning wheels to just two hundred, which is actually a more typical number of amino acids for a protein, the odds against all two hundred coming up in a prescribed sequence are 1 in 10 to the 260 power (that is 1 followed by 260 zeros). Perspective, that in itself is a larger number than all the atoms in the universe.
Evolution? It takes more faith than believing in God.
Revelation 4:11 (ESV)
“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power,
for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
I HATE TO BE DE-FOETUS
Who would have thought that the greatest genocide in human history would take place in what should be the safest place on earth…the womb!
A baby is developing heart, brain, spinal and nerve cells at five weeks gestation. Between conception and birth, a baby’s heart will beat 54 million times. A baby can hear sound at 16 weeks, has fully developed eyes at 20 weeks, and studies show they can taste, hear, cry, laugh and experience pain in the womb. It has fingerprints at twelve weeks, showing that a baby is already a person. Sadly, in this state, abortion is legal right up until birth.
Psalms 139:13-16 (ESV)
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made
Fearfully and wonderfully made! While our government is doing its best to destroy the lives of the next generation, God says this…
Isaiah 44:2 (ESV)
Thus says the LORD who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: Fear not,
Part of the reason Fiona and I started Lily House was to save babies, and we do so regularly. If you have had an abortion in the past, God loves you and He will forgive you if you come to Him. It’s not the unforgivable sin, but it is a sin that will scar and affect you for life, unless you give it to him. In sharing this, I’m not accusing or judging anyone who has had or sanctioned an abortion. We love you and you can be forgiven and set free. Often the parents are victims too. But I am speaking Jesus into a legislature who legalises this barbaric practice.
Babies are special…so, what makes you so special?
1. YOU ARE SPECIAL
This morning I want you grasp how unbelievably special you are. You are fearfully and wonderfully made…
- Your mouth produces one litre of saliva a day.
- Laid end on end, an adult’s blood vessels would circle the earth’s equator four times.
- The average person has 67 types of bacteria in their belly button.
- You lose four kilograms of skin cells every year.
- Your nerves conduct impulses at 400km/hr.
- Your nose can recognise a trillion scents.
- Your smell is unique, that’s how your dog knows you.
Genesis 1:27 (ESV)
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Never believe that you are a mistake because the Bible says you are made in the image of God. You are created to reflect Him; you are not a mistake.
2. YOU ARE VALUABLE
Every second your body produces 25 million cells. In one second you have produced as many cells as there are people in our nation!
Despite the awesomeness of our bodies, the secular world wants to tell us that we evolved from a chance meeting of molecules in a primeval soup, that we are glorified monkeys. Behind this philosophy is the notion that you are just chemicals, and therefore have no intrinsic, real, eternal value.
Your body is made of water, oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen, plus a bit of calcium, a bit of fat, some more than others, and a few random chemicals. If we were to be sold on the open market, how much are we worth?
Just under $160, but almost ¾ of that is the tiny amount of potassium, which fetches $1000 a kilo today. Minus potassium, we are worth around $30. So, Mr. 30 bucks goes and spends $200 on shoes to put on $3.50 worth of feet. Or he buys a $100 shirt to put on $8.00 worth of chest. We are clearly worth more than the sum of the chemicals that make us up. But God says…
Matthew 10:29-31 (ESV)
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
3. YOU REGENERATE
You are created by God, and you are special and valuable, but life happens, and because of sin in the world, the system sometimes breaks down. The DNA in human cells gets damaged over 100 times a day but is amazingly and automatically repaired because God’s set that up. Disease actually occurs in the few times the restoration process fails.
Psalms 41:3 (ESV)
The LORD sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to full health.
The human body can restore itself. It is a wondrous symphony of diverse parts: 206 bones and over 600 muscles, controlled by more than a billion neurones and energised by 96,000 km of veins and arteries in the circulatory system. These intricate parts work together in unity, and our bodies constantly adapt to instabilities among their members.
When a body is thrown into instability by an infection, the lymphatic system works around the clock to fight the infection and restore the body’s stability.
You see, our bodies are constantly fighting toxins that enter through the air we breathe or the food we eat, and the overwhelming majority of these skirmishes are successfully overcome, but go unnoticed by us, because our incredibly created bodies deal with most of it.
Our Bodies at the Cellular Level
At the cellular level, scientists tell us that the human body is a conversation between proteins that are absorbed by our cells or transferred from one cell to another. Understanding how this works enables us to better understand how diseases like cancer operate.
Cancer is a breakdown, says researcher Danny Hills, “somehow the cells are deciding to divide when they shouldn’t, or telling each other to make blood vessels when they shouldn’t.” Indeed, it seems that the health of our bodies is intimately tied to the ability of their cells to effectively converse together.
Perhaps what we call healing is God’s Spirit reunifying and restoring your very cells.
Jeremiah 30:17 (ESV)
For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, declares the LORD,
OUR BODIES REFLECT THE WONDER OF GOD
I don’t have time to discuss the myriads of wonders that make up who you are. But let me tantalise you with a few facts that will again open your mind to the fact that you are amazingly created by a loving God.
If you are an adult of average weight, here is what you accomplish in 24 hours:
- your heart beats 104,000 times and your blood travels 270 million kms
- you breathe 23,000 times and you inhale 7.1 litres of air
- you eat 1.47 kg of food, you drink 2.74 litres of liquids, and you lose nearly 400 grams of waste
- you speak 4800 words, including many unnecessary ones, you move 750
- muscles, your nails grow .0117 mm, your hair grows .435 mm
- you exercise 7,000,000 brain cells (Some more than others).
Our Bodies are Intricate
What I want you to get is how intricate, how incredible, how astonishing you are. You’re not an accident, you’re not a freak, you are created in the image of almighty God, and He can be trusted to lead you into the most incredible destiny you can imagine. He made you, and He’s got you.
Ecclesiastes 11:5 (ESV)
As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.
God made everything, and He made you. For a plan, for a purpose.
Jeremiah 29:11 (ESV)
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
He created you, and He loves you, and He has a plan for you. The question us will you follow Him and let Him unfold His plan for you.
THE CROSS HOLDS IT ALL TOGETHER
We saw last week that, right at the centre of the whirlpool galaxy, there is a black hole in the shape of a cross. Louie Giglio popularised this, and he also turned to the wonder of the human body to find a cross holding it all together.
Now, this is not a theological argument for creation, it’s just a fun fact that illustrates that God loves us, and that the cross is still the answer.
Laminin is a protein and is part of the extracellular mix in humans. It basically glues or binds cells together. One form of muscular dystrophy involves defects in it. And laminin is shaped in the form of a cross.
Colossians 1:17 (ESV)
And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
In our bodies, and in the universe, the cross literally holds all things together.
FROM ETERNITY TO ETERNITY
Ecclesiastes says God has placed eternity in the hearts of men, and every person, even an atheist, is aware that there’s more out there beyond our physical existence. Last week we saw how amazingly huge God is, and this week we have seen how amazingly intricate He is in our bodies, and how deliberately He loves and cares for us. I don’t have time to examine how incredible our vision is, our hearing, our taste buds, our lungs and heart and brain function is.
Mankind thinks he is pretty great and pretty clever, but in reality, our lives are brief compared to eternity.
Psalms 39:4-6 (ESV)
“O LORD, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days;
let me know how fleeting I am! Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Surely a man goes about as a shadow! Surely for nothing they are in turmoil; man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather!
As we marvel at God’s awesomeness of our bodies, we must also ask the question, “Have we used the limited time we have on earth effectively?” given that we all are about to step into eternity.
A FEARFUL APPOINTMENT
As wonderful as our bodies are, they still are subject to aging and dying. At a cellular level, cells age and are unable to divide and reproduce as they once had. In a whole-body level, processes start to break down as we age and not be as efficient, and despite the advancements in science and medicine, no one can stop the dying process.
Hebrews 9:27 (ESV)
And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,
One appointment we must all keep is death. We all die, some earlier, some later. I cannot explain why some die earlier or later, but we must trust God in the process, because I can tell you that we all die.
DYING TO GO HOME
But I believe we need to change our view of death. Mankind is terrified of death, but we do not need to be like that.
1 Corinthians 15:54-57 (ESV)
When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
One writer I read shared that he once asked his wife, who was in the last stages of dying of cancer, “What it felt like to wake up every morning knowing she you’re dying?” She replied, “What’s it like to wake up every morning pretending you’re not?”
Years ago, I once actually died for several minutes, and was brought back. I glimpsed the other side, and sensed the love and care of God, so I know He will lead and guide me into eternity.
Deuteronomy 33:27 (ESV)
The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms.
Our physical bodies, as wonderful as they are, will all die. The only question is, will your spirit, the real you, the you for which this wonderful body is just a vehicle, will your spirit die? When you give your life to Jesus, your sin is forgiven, and the sting of death is removed. You receive life to the full and have nothing to fear, before, during or after death.
From our side, death is separation from loved ones, it’s dark, mysterious, unknown, and terrifying. But from God’s side, it’s your graduation, your homecoming, your promotion to glory!
Our Bodies are Just Shells
Our bodies, as incredible and amazing as they are, are just shells carrying our souls. The real you lives forever, in Heaven or Hell, your choice.
Matthew 10:28 (ESV)
And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
You can’t change your death, it’s appointed. But you can live life to the full before you die, and then on into eternity. So many are dead men walking, they die inside long before their physical body stops working.
Today I want to pray against the fear of death, but also to speak Jesus into the life you now have. Don’t waste your one life, let God maximise it.
Are you prepared to pledge what remains of your life to serving Jesus right now…I am! This nation needs people who will stand for Christ, no matter what!
Matthew 10:32-33 (MSG)
“Stand up for me against world opinion and I’ll stand up for you before my Father in heaven. If you turn tail and run, do you think I’ll cover for you?
Exodus 32:26 (ESV)
then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the LORD’S side? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him.
