Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Bible Study / Summer Psalms

Psalm 8 06/10/01

Intro:  The second most important question in life is found in Psalm 8:4 'What is man?. This is the poignant 'Who am I and why am I here' question that each one of us has asked on more than one occasion. What is the answer?

H.G. Wells 'Man is an inhabitant of a thin rind on a negligible detached blob of matter, belonging to one of the million stars, in one among millions of island universes.'

Karl Marx 'Man is basically an economic factor in the world.'

Sigmund Freud 'Man is an undeveloped child.'

Charles Darwin 'Man is a highly developed animal.'

Someone said. 'Man is whatever his wife says he is.'

     Regardless of the answer we come up with, there is only one who has the right answer. The one who knows us best and the One who created us: God. And He is not keeping the answer to Himself.

Trans:  God answers the second most important question we will ever ask. 'Who am I and why am I here?'  in the Psalm we are going to look at this morning. Turn to Psalm 8:1

I. God's Majesty in Creation ( vs. 1-2)
    A. His name and glory (vs. 1)
Read: Psalm 8:1

     I love this, don't you. David was so filled with awe of God, so captivated by the beauty and majesty of God's creation that he makes a very simple and yet beautiful confession of faith and shout of praise. And I believe it was shouted, not whispered. As David gazed into the glorious heavens on a beautiful starry night, he shouted...

     This is an exclamatory phrase in the Hebrew and meant to show great excitement for God. It is also a declaration of faith because the name of God means more than just something to call Him. It involves His existence, character and reputation. The name of the Lord encompasses all that He has revealed about Himself.

     And His name is majestic, it is superior to all other names, it is supremely glorious, regal and worthy to be honored and praised. He is majestic in power, in splendor, in glory, in works and in holiness. There is no god like the Lord, Our God. That's one of the key words here in our text, our. David's words O Lord our Lord are in Hebrew O YHWY our Adonai. In later years the Jews thought it sinful to speak the personal name of God, YHWY or Jehovah for the Gentiles.

     David is not bothered by some false piety. YHWY, Jehovah is the personal name of God, the God of relationship, the God of covenant with His people. David loved being in a personal relationship with YHWY. He emphasizes this when he said, 'our Lord'. To David, God is not some detached, distant, impersonal ruler, he is MY God and MY Lord.

     And the name of the Lord is not just majestic in Davids little part of the world. David proclaims that the name of the Lord is majestic in ALL the earth.

ILL: There are millions of Muslims who claim Allah as their god. There are millions of Buddhists who bow before altars to Buddha. There  are millions of Hindus who grovel before myriad's of idols. There are millions of communists and atheists who claim there is no God. There are even millions who say with their mouths that there is a God but live as if there isn't.

     In spite of how people ignore the reality of God, the truth is that the name of God is majestic and excellent and glorious and worthy...in all the earth! And that is why the Apostle Paul can say 'at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, in heaven and on the earth and under the earth, and ever tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.' Amen?

Trans: Well, not only is the name of the Lord majestic in all the earth, it is a mighty as well.

    B. His power (vs. 2)
Read: Psalm 8:2

     David is saying that God's glory is so powerful, His nature so strong that when all the powers of evil are gathered together to confront the Lord God all He needs to defend Himself is the praise that comes from the mouths of little children. Does this sound familiar? Do you remember someplace in the NT that talks about this very thing? What event in the life of Jesus quotes this text?

Turn to  Matt. 21:15-16

     God's ways are not our ways. Modern man emphasizes beauty, intellect, wealth, and power. In contrast, God emphasizes the weak and foolish in the eyes of the world: the shouts of praise from children. Isn't it amazing that God can reveal  Himself in such marvelous ways...to children and they get it. Their uncorrupted and unbiased minds can recognize God w/o any difficulty. Their lack of inhibition frees them to openly and joyfully praise God with all their being.

     That's one of the reasons we stress children's ministry here at CBC: Pioneer Clubs, Sunday School, Children's Church and DVBS. God leaves the defense of His name to the praises of children. We better give them the area in which to praise!

Trans: God begins to answer the question of 'who am I and why am I here' by first making known who He is. He continues by revealing to us...

II. Mankind's Purpose in Creation (vs. 3-9)
    A. Mankind's perceived insignificance (vs. 3-4)
Read: Psalm 8:3-4

     Can't you just picture David as a shepherd, sitting on some hillside in Judea one warm summer night, gazing up at the stars. He is holding a gittith (believed to be a stringed instrument) besides what else would he be holding, an mp3 player, a Sony discman or maybe a Palm pilot?

     Anyway, it was just him, the sheep and the vast show that was the moon and stars. The text says that he considered the heavens and the work of God's fingers.   He meditated on the glory and majesty of God's power to create all that he was looking at. And he asks, 'what is man that you are mindful of him?'

    Have you ever done that? Looked up at the vastness of space and wondered  why God ever bothers with you? We have more reason to ask than David did because we know more about the universe than he did.

In one second a beam of light can travel 186,000 miles.
It takes 8 mins. for that same beam of light to go from the sun to the earth.
In a year, that beam of light travels 6 trillion miles and that is called a light year.  (it has nothing to do with less fat)
It is 8 billion light years from earth is about the center of the known galaxy.
Within this universe, there are 100 billion galaxies each with a 100 billion stars and countless planets on   the average.

     Mind boggling,  incomprehensible. No wonder we say along with David 'God you created and maintain all this...and you are still mindful of man.'  Why? God is mindful of us. He thinks about us and cares for us. God is more interested in people than in planets. The God of the vastness of space is the God of the innermost place in our hearts. The amazing thing is the glory of God is not ultimately seen in the vastness of creation, but in His passion for us!

Trans: But why, why such an interest in weak, frail, sinful humanity? Well, God gets to that in verses 5-8. Lets look.

    B. Mankind's significant purpose (vs. 5-8)
Read: Psalm 8:5-8
     1. We were created in the image of God
         The NIV says that God created man a little lower than the heavenly beings. But, I think this is a mistake.   The Hebrew word the NIV translates 'heavenly beings' is the word 'Elohim'. Anyone know how that word is usually translated? God. This is important because the question 'who am I' is directly tied to this word. A better translation is what the NASB uses. 'Thou hast created him a little lower than God.' What we are talking about is the image of God in man. This means that we are second in all creation, to the Godhead alone. That should take your breath away.

     Why are we significant? Why does God think about and care for us? Because we were created in His image and likeness.

     2. We were crowned by God with glory and majesty
         God honored us with something that belongs to Him...glory and majesty.  No where is human dignity more clearly and boldly proclaimed than in this passage. First we read that God's glory is above all the earth, now God gives glory to man. This is done, once again, to show our relationship with Him. God wants us to have something that belongs solely to Him.

        Is man insignificant? No! The Lord, our Lord has made man something special. He has made man the crowning jewel of all His creation. And He has created man for a divine purpose. What is that purpose?

     3. We were given dominion over all God had created.
         God intended us to be kings, to rule. Our purpose in life is to maintain order, to shine God's light on creation and to have authority over all God's creation... the sheep, oxen, beasts of the field, birds of heaven and fish in the sea. Even dogs...dogs are easy to train not because they are stupid, they are easy to train because they are created to be submissive to mankind.

         However, dominion over all the created order is not a right but a gift from God. And with this gift comes responsibility. Have we handled this responsibility well? No and it all started in the garden when Eve submitted to the serpent by saying yes to him  instead of saying no and ruling over him.

         From that point on, as sin entered humanity, we became more and more like those we were supposed to rule over instead of becoming more and more like the one in whose image we were created. God, Almighty. So, because of sin, sin we are all guilty of, we can never be what God intended us to be or do what God intended us to do. So, for all practical purposes, our sin has made us the insignificant being mankind says we are.

    But God didn't leave us in despair. It is necessary to look at one more Scripture text if we are to fully appreciate God's answer to the question 'Who am I and Why am I here?' Turn to Heb. 2:9-10.

Sidebar: God is mindful of man and cares for him. This is where God's majesty and glory shines it's brightest. God sent His Son, Jesus to do for us what we were not able to do, live a sinless life in complete subjection to the will of God. And He suffered and died the death we deserved because of our sin. Therefore, God crowned Him with glory and honor and placed all things in subjection to Him.

     In doing so, Heb. 2:10 says that Jesus is bringing many sons to glory.  This means those who are in Christ, who have accepted His sacrifice on the Cross of Calvary as payment for their sin debt to God, are reinstated to the position  God created them to hold. In Christ, once again we are on the way to becoming kings, to rule and reign with Christ for all eternity. That is why you are here. Those who are in Christ are once again crowned with the glory and majesty of God. That is who we are. We are children of God, joint heirs with Christ.

     This is all because trusting in Christ as Savior and Lord renews the image of God in our sinful lives. And what is the response of those whose sins have been forgiven, whose image and purpose has been restored?

    C. Mankind's response (vs. 9)
Read: Psalm 8:9

     We have come full circle. This is what is called in literature as an inclusio. The idea is the first and last lines of a text give shape to what is sandwiched in between. So, what does the structure of this Psalm tell us? That 'who man is' and 'why he is here' is completely dependent on who God is. And that because 'who we are' and 'why we are here' is dependent on God, our lives are to be lived as a response to His grace and love.

Conclusion
     Psalm 8  speaks to those who are in Christ. To those who have asked Christ into their lives. The rest of the world may marvel and admire God's creation but they will never be what God intended them to be. And they will continue to ask the 2nd most important question of their lives 'Who am I and why am I here'

     The most important question is found in Matthew 22:42 'What do you think of Christ?'. That is the most basic question in all of life and until you answer that one, none of the other questions really matter. You see it is not until God rules and reigns in your heart, it is not until God is glorified in your life and praised with  your lips that you will join Him and share His reign.

     So, are you permitting Him to rule and reign in your life? Have you asked Him to forgive you of your sins? Have you by faith, asked Him to be your Savior? Have you acknowledged Him as YOUR Lord?

     Within every heart is an emptiness a deep down hunger that can only be filled by a relationship with God through His Son, Jesus. It is only when God is allowed to move about in your life that you can be what He intended you to be. It is only in Christ that you will find security, significance, identity and purpose in life. Trust Jesus as your Savior, follow Him as your Lord.

'Who am I' and 'why am I here?' Jesus wants to answer that for you this morning. Trust Him. He will not disappoint you. Once you do you will be able to join David and say..