Raising Up Humans in Creation

Introduction

When it comes to amazement, what pieces/part/area of creation are you ranking the highest?

Think about the different realms of creation and what filled them…

Is something in the Sky Realm amazing?

Is something in the Earth Realm amazing?

Is something in the Water Realm amazing?

Let’s looks at Psalms 8 tonight and see how God places humans in all of creation.

<<Psalm 8 (ESV)

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of David.

1 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.

2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,

4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.

6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet,

7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,

8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

9 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Let’s pray together…

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As you look through this Psalm, God doesn’t choose to rule through what humans view as the STRONG parts of creation. God chooses to rule through humans! The passage even talks about strength being established from babies & infants. NOT just from the babies… OUT OF THE MOUTH of babies. How is strength established from the mouth of babies?

Psalm 8 describes Yahweh as the King of creation who made dependent humans his royal partners. This is unexpected and wonderful news to those who understand their need for God. But it’s offensive to those who want to rule their lives apart from Yahweh

Throughout the Bible, we see people violently oppose God's strategy for ruling the universe. And this opposition creates a lot of chaos. So Yahweh establishes a stronghold of protection wherever one of his children humbly recognizes their need and calls out to him. Let’s take a closer look at Psalm 8 to understand more about how God chooses to rule his world.

<<Who God Wants to Work Through

Let’s first look at WHO God wants to work through. The best way to understand the Word is to see how the Author taught about the Word. Look at the screen as we follow two passages and one Author.

<<Matthew 21:1–17 (ESV)

1 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, 5 “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’ ” 6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” 10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.” 12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.” 14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, 16 and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, “ ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?” 17 And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there.

Understanding the relationship of STRONGHOLD (strength) & PRAISE

First, let’s define praise as the act of acknowledging who God is as the King of the universe and responding to him with trust and dependence. Since he is the magnificent Creator, we can see our need for him as small, created beings. The psalmist teaches that praise is what infants do (according to the Septuagint rendering of Psalm 8:2. And this makes sense because who understands their need for provision better than an infant? And this makes sense because who understands their need for provision better than an infant?Now, if praise is defined as the act of acknowledging God as the King and expressing one’s dependence on him accordingly, who are the "infants" in Matthew’s Gospel account? Matthew tells us how the outcasts of society often understood their need for God and cried out to Jesus as the “Son of David”. When Jesus arrived on the scene, hanging out with the no-names of society, very few powerful people recognized him as the promised Davidic King. These people made themselves like infants by recognizing their need and crying out to the only one who could truly meet that need, King Jesus. Now that we have defined praise and explained how the humble do it best, what does that have to do with a stronghold? Well, let’s think about it. A stronghold is defined as a place to defend and protect people from an enemy. And isn’t that what Jesus provided for those who cried out to him? When opposers tried to silence the outcast’s cries for mercy and blessing, Jesus came to the defense of the weak. We even see Jesus establishing a physical place of refuge when he quoted Psalm 8:2. When Jesus moved out the instruments of corruption and oppression in the temple, he prepared a place where the poor and vulnerable could freely come to receive from him (Matthew 21:14).

<<The main point to address is that Jesus’ understanding of Psalms 8 “strength established” is parallel to His comment on “prepared praise.” Praise is acknowledging God as the King of the universe and expressing dependence on Him, much like infants recognize their need for provision/strength. In Matthew’s Gospel, outcasts, like spiritual infants, cried out to Jesus and He became their refuge and stronghold, defending them from opposition.

Psalms 8:2 “From the mouths of infants and nursing babes, you established a stronghold, because of your adversaries to stop the enemy and the avenger.”

As humans that belong ins God’s creation, we have enemies/adversaries/opponent/rival. Some of them are obvious to see each day and some are invisible.

Matthew 21 the enemy was the greed of power-hungry religious leaders who wanted to control people without God’s guidance

The Bible references dark, unseen “spiritual beings who rage against God and humans.

The apostle Peter described Satan as an adversary who prowls around like a lion hunting for his next meal (1 Peter 5:8)

1 Peter 5:8 (ESV)

8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

We face enemies today of lust with our eyes, mind and body

We face enemies today of doubt, anxiety, depression, & suicide

We face enemies today of trusting ourself over trusting God

We face enemies today of saying “I’ll wait to trust God when I am an adult. It’ll be easier then.

Learning to trust God and live for God when it goes against the “successful path” for your career.

The psalmist recognizes that we are going to face enemies. We can look into our own lives and see that we face enemies.

<<HOW DO WE GET PROTECTION FROM THESE GREAT ENEMIES?

SATAN is the biggest, baddest enemy humans face, yet we can defeat his efforts to trip us up simply by crying out to God in our time of need.

When we bring our weaknesses,… needs,… fears,… and disappointments to God in prayer—believing that God cares about the small and insignificant details of our lives—our enemy can’t stand it.

<<He flees from those who go to God for help.

Who knows better than little babies, that they need help. This is the place God wants us to be in!

Knowing our place is the most important place to be in!

WHO GOD WANTS TO WORK THROUGH — — little babies who recognize they are helpless by themself; MS who recognize they helpless alone; HS who recognize they are helpless alone. Our physical growth does determine our infant attitude of always needing our heavenly Father.

As God teaches us WHO He wants to work through, He shows us that this has been the design from Creation.

Psalm 8:3–6 (ESV)

3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,

4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.

6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet,

When you look at Creation, what stands out to you? What is visually appealing that creates curiosity? What we find amazing and draws our focus is not the same for God. Humans are what stands out in Creation to God… Humans are created from the dirt

BUT in the image of God, FOR WHAT? WE have a specific purpose identified and reminded in verse 6.

6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet,

Before this verse we have seen WHO GOD WANTS TO WORK THROUGH, now we see WHAT GOD WANTS TO ACHIEVE THROUGH HUMANS.

What God wants to Achieve Through Humans

The Bible says we are “crowned with glory & honor” — dominion over the works of the Creator’s hands (creation). This is what God wants to achieve through us — Humans to rule creation with our trust in him! As low as we may see ourselves, God has set humanity apart from the rest of creation. Not just set us apart but has also set us higher/closer to Him. Being higher than the rest of Creation and closer to God — He wants to achieve something great through us.

When we are like little babies who realize that we MUST trust God, we are capable of ruling creation inside God’s design. The moment we think we have grown up and don’t need God, is the moment we lose control.

In Genesis 1-2 God’s design was to coexist with humans in the overlap of heaven & earth. Humans would directly rule over what God had created. In Genesis 3, humans stepped outside of God’s design and this separated this Divine Coexisting of God and Humans. Since we cannot rule in that same way, What does God want to Achieve Through Humans?

Matthew 18:3 (ESV)

3 and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

God wants to achieve Genesis 1&2 again. God is going to work through humans as He find them and allow creation to be a stable environment where he can work out His plan. God is going to work through those who TRUST Christ and reach those who have not yet trusted Christ. One day, for those who TRUSTED in Christ will exist with Jesus in a NEW HEAVEN & EARTH.

Closing

God reminds His plan for humans even though we messed it up. The plan is to TRUST GOD

We face enemies today of saying “I’ll wait to trust God when I am an adult. It’ll be easier then.

Learning to trust God and live for God when it goes against the “successful path” for your career.

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