Psalm 8

· INTRO: Would you guys turn with me to Psalm 8? Psalm 8 is our psalm for today and what a glorious reminder it is to us of how GREAT OUR GOD IS! As you turn there, let me highlight a few announcements (announcements).

o Would you please stand with me for the reading of God’s word? (READ, PRAY, YOU MAY BE SEATED, DRINK)

· When I was in college, one of the fun things I’d do was go to Fort Collins, CO. Fort Collins is great, although it also hosts the worst college in America, CSU; beat the sheep. But seriously, there are some great things to do in Fort Collins. One of my favorite places to go was a super fancy chocolate shop. It was hard to get to and was just in the middle of an alley, but once you got inside, you entered into one of the most amazing chocolate heavens!

o The signature things to order there were either the “drinking chocolates” which were full bars of chocolate melted into a very small amount of milk and then their “Dark Chocolate flights” which came with all sorts of information about the chocolate you were about to eat.

o All of these chocolates had many flavors and Psalm 8 is like the most flavorful chocolate ever! It has many parts! It includes many different “tastes of theology” including THEOLOGY ABOUT GOD, also called THEOLOGY PROPER, it contains soteriology, or salvation theology, it includes CHRISTOLOGY, or theology about Jesus, and it includes Biblical Anthropology!

§ As we dive in today, our main point that will focus everything we talk about is, “The gospel shines bright when we consider the glory and majesty of God!”

· BODY: Psalm 8 is such a perfect follow-up to Psalm 7. Psalm 7 was a wandering psalm, where David worked through many hard emotions while cryig out to God! Psalm 8 is a gittith, or a psalm put to harps and stringed instruments, and is much cheerier and is focused on GIVING GOD THE PRAISE THAT GOD DESERVES!

o In fact, it almost builds off of what we talked about in Psalm 7. We talked about how we should PRAISE GOD FOR WHO HE IS and that’s what David did as he composed Psalm 8 under the leading of the Holy Spirit!

o Now, Psalm 8 has a chiastic structure. If you notice, the first two lines are the same as the last two lines. This is common in Hebrew literature and poetry and there is significance to it! A good way to look at it would be to think about climbing a mountain. Verses 1-3 are the ascent; 4-5 are the peak and verses 6-9 are the descent!

§ Not only does it function as the introduction and the conclusion of the psalm, it is a call to attention and it is a call to action! Further, it also puts the emphasis on what HAPPENS IN THE VERY CENTER OF THE PSALM!

§ Verses 1 and 9 are the most clear example of the chiastic structure, but we’ll see thematic mirroring in verses 2-3 and verses 6-8, drawing our attention towards the center; towards verses 4-5 WHERE WE SEE DAVID BOTH SPEAK ABOUT GOD’S CREATION OF MAN AND WHERE WE SEE DAVID PROPHESY ABOUT JESUS!

· In other words, David is framing the importance of what he is praising God for- it’s the most important thing! DAVID IS PRAISING GOD FOR OUR SAVIOR!

· Verse 1 says, “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.”- Psalm 8:1

o Last week we saw a similar declaration from David! This week, David uses a slightly different combination of words! David last week said, “YAHWHEH ELOHIM,” or GOD MY GOD. This week, David says, “YAHWEH, ADONAI!”

§ Adonai has a slightly different emphasis. Adonai really emphasizes the LORDSHIP, or the AUTHORITY AND SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD!

· David uses a specific tense here called the vocative. The vocative is essentially used to show direct address. This psalm is DIRECTLY ADDRESSED TO GOD! This psalm isn’t about corporate worship as some others are, this is ALL ABOUT DAVID’S RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD!

o We see the splendor of God immediately! Not only does David praise God’s name as MAJESTIC, we see that GOD’S GLORY IS, “ABOVE THE HEAVENS!”

§ These two show David’s immense heart for praising God! There are difficult seasons in his life as we saw last week, but then there are also seasons where he wants to rejoice! THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF PURE REJOICING!

· HOW MAJESTIC IS THE NAME OF GOD! HOW ROYAL IS GOD! HOW POWERFUL AND SOVEREIGN IS GOD!

· And now, David starts to show reasons why he praises God for God’s power and God’s majesty!

o He starts off citing God creating the heavens! God’s glory isn’t just IN THE HEAVENS, IT IS BEYOND THE HEAVENS BECAUSE GOD CREATED THEM!

§ GOD’S GLORY IS THAT AMAZING! IT’S BEYOND ANYTHING THAT DAVID CAN PUT INTO WORDS!

· What a God we serve!

· Looking at verses 2-3 we read, “Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,”- Psalm 8:2-3

o David leads us into praise, pointing out how praise for God comes from all over!

§ From the mouths of babies and infants God is praised! I know that thought may sound crazy, but it’s a genuine reality! How sovereign and great is our Lord? HE IS SO GREAT THAT BABIES AND INFANTS WHO CANNOT SPEAK PRAISE HIM!

· Not only is it a positive encouragement to praise God, Jesus himself quotes this verse in Matthew 21:16. In Matthew 21:16, Jesus has just finished clearing the temple and children stand there praising Him!

· Do you know who doesn’t? THE PHARISEES! THEY ARE LIVID!

o But, guess what? THE VERY WORDS OF PSALM 8 are what Jesus quotes!

o He reminds these men who will soon send him to the cross that these children get it!

§ What an embarrassment for the pharisees! A CHILD GETS IT MORE THAN THEY DO!

· (ILLUSTRATION)

o Verse 3 is relatively similar! David speaks about God’s GENERAL REVELATION! General Revelation is a theological term to talk about God’s MAJESTY being made known in everything that ISN’T SCRIPTURE!

§ For instance, God’s creation, like what David talks about here!

§ We see how David praises God for THE STARS IN THE SKY!

§ As we look around us, we see GOD’S GLORY EVERYWHERE THAT WE LOOK!

· We see God’s glory and wonder in so many places, whether it is in the babies and the infants crying out to GOD, or if it is the blue sky, or the stars at night! All of those things scream at us to PRAISE GOD! They show us and remind us of who God is!

§ I want to give a genuine challenge here. Go outside tonight and look at the stars! One of the things that I like the most about where we live is that even in town there isn’t much light pollution! GO OUTSIDE TONIGHT OR ANOTHER NIGHT THIS WEEK AND JUST LOOK UP AT THE STARS!

· OUR GOD MADE THOSE! OUR GOD WHO WE CAN HAVE A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH MADE THOSE!

o THE SAME GOD WHO MADE US AND KNOWS EVERY HAIR ON OUR HEADS MADE THOSE MASSIVE STARS! NOT ONLY DID GOD MAKE THOSE STARS, HE SET THEM INTO PLACE, GIVING THEM EACH A PERFECT ROLE AND A PERFECT POSITION! THAT’S HOW SOEREIGN AND DETAIL ORIENTED OUR GOD IS!

§ I’ve been building a patio recently at my house. As Hope and I picked out bricks we wanted to pick out the perfect bricks. As Michael dug the space out, he did it correctly! As we do these different things, we want to do our best, but it can feel like a lot after a while! And honestly, as the pavers started going down, it looks pretty good! But, it’s FAR FROM CREATING STARS!

§ AND GOD LITERALLY SPOKE THOSE STARS INTO EXISTENCE!

· I’d say that’s a lot more impressive than building a little 18x17 patio!

· Consider that! OUR GOD spoke this into creation! As amazing as that is AND AS PRAISEWORTHY AS THAT IS, look one verse further at verse 4!

· Verse 4 and 5 are the central focus of this entire psalm! They say, “What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.”- Psalm 8:4-5

o Verse 4 and 5 TALKS ABOUT JESUS AND ABOUT MAN, WHO IS MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD!

o That first phrase, “WHAT IS MAN THAT YOU ARE MINDFUL OF HIM?” is full of so much theology that is EXCEPTIONALLY IMPORTANT IN TODAY’S DAY AND AGE!

§ What is man? David is asking this question somewhat rhetorically, and it has an answer! Consider Genesis 1:27! “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

· So what is one of the first things that is every said about man? THAT MAN IS MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD!

o To be clear, man is in the IMAGE OF GOD, not the other way around! So often, we and our world around us, want to humanize God! We want to think of God as what WE WOULD DESIGN, but that isn’t the case!

o GOD INTRICATELY AND PURPOSEFULLY DESIGNED US!

o I love what Owen Strachan says about the importance of this. He says, “Mankind is not an accident; mankind is the special creation of almighty God. By recapturing the biblical account of human origins, we recapture human dignity, human worth, and our own identities.”- Owen Strachan

o IT IS SO AMAZING THAT GOD MADE US IN HIS IMAGE!

§ When we understand that basic principle, it totally transforms our worldview.

§ Every single human has immense worth! Why should we stand to support things like life, or adoption; why should we fight against Euthanasia? BECAUSE EVERY SINGLE HUMAN IS MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD!

· This summer, we will continue taking a biblical look at what the BIBLE says about some of these issues, but today, hear me loud and clear on something; our answer to the question, “WHAT IS MAN THAT YOU ARE MINDFUL OF HIM?”

o Our answer should be, “MAN IS MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD AND HAS IMMENSE, INNATE WORTH BECAUSE OF GOD!”

o David then continues on, moving from this factual statement to a time of prophecy. David says, “and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.”

o The Son of Man is Jesus! This is a Messianic prophecy inside of the book of psalms!

o This is a very important verse. Translations differ on how exactly to translate it though! So, let’s take a second and talk about it, because depending on how we translate it, the VERY CORE MEANING OF THE VERSE CHANGES ENTIRELY! The difference I’m talking about is how one phrase is pronounced.

§ The phrase is pronounced “Ben-ADAM.”

Lexham Hebrew Bible Chapter 8

וּבֶן־אָ֝דָ֗ם

·Ben means SON, ADAM MEANS MAN!

You may be able to guess the meaning of the second word from the pronunciation. It is literally SON OF MAN!

· Despite the translation confusion, the grammar is quite clear!

o Everything is SINGULAR, it is masculine and it is clearly referring to ONE PERSON!

§ I need to be clear; this does not diminish the value or reliability of the NIV or any other translation that translates this “human being”, but the explicit HEBREW is clear, THIS IS THE SON OF MAN AND THAT IS IMPORTANT!

§ God has existed for eternity in the trinity, so Jesus, just like God has no creation and no end! This is a point of extreme importance! David if you notice, differentiates between man and the SON OF MAN!

§ God CREATED man, but GOD CARES FOR JESUS!

· We know that to be true! We know that Jesus relates to God the Father in a Loving and caring way!

· Further, we see that David prophecies about JESUS DESCENDING TO EARTH AND INCARNATING, before returning to heaven and being crowned with glory!

· This verse is quoted in Hebrews 2! Listen to what the author of Hebrews says. The author writes, “It has been testified somewhere, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.”

Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”

o The author fills in the blanks in this messianic prophecy! The author connects-the-dots for us, showing us how Jesus was made lower than angels by coming to earth but how Jesus now reigns IN GLORY AND HONOR as our sacrifice!

§ By the GRACE OF GOD Jesus died! I know that sounds insane, but consider, if JESUS HAD NOT DIED FOR US, WE WOULD NOT BE SAVED!

§ Truly, Jesus died on the cross because of God’s grace! And praise the Lord that HE ROSE AGAIN ON THE THIRD DAY!

· GOSPEL! WE NEED TO RESPOND TO THIS!

· JESUS IS SITTING ON THE THRONE OF HEAVEN TODAY CROWNED WITH GLORY AND HONOR!

o WHAT A REASON FOR US TO PRAISE GOD!

· Now remember, as we move into verses 6-8, we are going to see parallels back to verses 2-3, as we “descend the mountain.” We read, “You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.”- Psalm 8:6-8

o Once again, we see David praising God for CREATING MAN AND ALSO FOR THE DOMINION GIVEN, first to Jesus and then to us in Genesis! We also see David praising God again for his general revelation!

o We see an an emphasis placed here on the authority and the power of Jesus! WE SEE THAT JESUS HAS BEEN GIVEN DOMINION OVER ALL THINGS!

§ All of these natural things cry out in praise every single day, praising God for WHO GOD IS AND FOR WHAT HE HAS DONE!

· This psalm as we said wraps up paralleling verse 1. Verse 9 says, “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”

o Notice that Chiastic structure again! The psalm ends just as it begins, placing the emphasis on it’s middle, specifically on the gift of Jesus!

§ Also notice what David begins and ends with. He starts and ends by praising the LORD’S NAME FOR BEING MAJESTIC!

· DO NOT MISS THIS!

· Yes, David talks about many things in this psalm, but he chooses to begin and end by praising the LORD FOR THE PURE MAJESTY OF HIS NAME!

o THERE’S A LESSON THERE FOR US!

o We ought to praise the Lord for His majesty and His name too! Our PRAISE MATTERS!

· CONCLUSION: Now, as we seek to wrap up our time in Psalm 8 today, let’s take a minute to apply this to our lives.

o As we wrap up, I see three things that we need to do; 3 R’s of application for us.

o We need to:

§ Respond to Jesus

§ Refocus our praise

RESTORE GOD’S DESIGN FOR OUR LIVES

· Respond to Jesus- RESPOND TO THE GOSPEL! BE SAVED!

· Refocus our praise- We need to praise the Majesty of God just as we witnessed David doing! We should stand in amazement at THE GOD THAT WE SERVE!

o PRAISE GOD! GO LOOK AT THE STARS AND CONSIDER WHO WE SERVE!

Last week we talked about how our lives should reflect praise for God. As David calls us to do here, let’s praise God with our EVERYTHING FOR WHAT HE HAS GIVEN US! Let’s PRAISE GOD FOR HIS CREATION AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, LET’S PRAISE GOD FOR JESUS!

Owen Strachan helpfully argues that “scripture helps us recover properly balanced visions for our lives.”

Psalm 8 challenges us very clearly to REFOCUS OUR PRAISE ONTO GOD! Our praise is not just random words that we sing, it is the VERY WAY THAT WE LIVE OUR LIVES!

OUR LIVES NEED TO BE SHAPED BY RESPONSE TO WHAT WE HAVE STUDIED TODAY!

Jesus has been given dominion and authority over all things on earth. Honestly, this is not just a Psalm 8 concept, it is throughout scripture. Throughout scripture, such as in Genesis 1:28, we also see how MAN HAS BEEN GIVEN A ROLE TO PLAY IN THIS!

Our role is to, “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.”

When we hear that, we should be struck by how work has been established by GOD! This week I have actually had a number of conversations with believers about how frustrating work can be when co-workers don’t want to work!

And honestly, not only does that make sense, it makes sense that motivation for work is declining! When we remove God’s design for something like work, it seems terrible! Listen to what Owen Strachan says about this”:

“When TV shows present work as drudgery, Christians cannot agree. We know well the effects of the fall, and we sympathize with those who feel them. Our theology, however, will not allow us to abandon labor. We too would love more time in the Caribbean, but we know that the work-for-the weekend mentality does not hold up under biblical scrutiny. In Christian doctrine, personal fulfillment comes not from escaping work, but from finding the right work driven by the right cause.”

· Not only did God design us to work and give us a mandate to work, our work gives us more opportunities to PRAISE GOD and to OBEY GOD, not only physically, but also spiritually! Strachan has one more very helpful quote when he says, “Our work to glorify God is not limited. We work because God works and has given us the chance to emulate him. Doxology (our PRAISE) is in the details… We do well to remember that our work glorifies one figure above all. Christians believe that the promotion of Jesus Christ in all the earth is the highest privilege known to man. Whether we do so directly by teaching and preaching Christ, or more indirectly as evangelical witnesses in our God-given vocations, we find no greater calling than this.”

Not only are we to FOLLOW GOD ACTIVELY, PRAISING HIM IN ALL THAT WE DO, we need to actively participate in the GREAT COMMISSION, something that we can do every single day at work!

· THE GREAT COMMISSION- MATTHEW 28! We are to take the message of SALVATION THROUGH JESUS TO THE WORLD!

Our work will play a huge role in this, both in giving us opportunities to BUILD RELATIONSHIPS TO SHARE THE GOSPEL, BUT ALSO BY PROVIDING US WITH A WHOLE NEW WAY TO SHARE THE GOSPEL! YOUR WORK SPEAKS TO GOD!

Not to mention, as Strachan argued, OUR WORK IS GIVEN TO US BY GOD! We know that God gives us opportunities for evangelism and for love and good deeds. Our vocation is part of that!

So let me challenge us this morning that Psalm 8 is calling for so many things. We are to transfix our eyes upon God, PRAISING HIM IN ALL THAT WE DO! Naturally, we should praise God in everything that we do; which includes our daily job, whatever that may be.