The Goodness, Greatness, and Glory of God

Introduction

We look around our world today and we see confusion and chaos in other countries and even in our own communities. We see wars, disasters, debates, and policies that lead to death and destruction. We wonder why on earth this person would do this or that country would do that. The more we see and hear, the more we wonder how things could get to this point. At the root of many of these problems is what we call our worldview. See, everyone has a different way that they view the world. Questions like “Who Am I?” “Why Am I Here?” “What happens after I die?” and many more help to form our worldview! The way that an Atheist answers these questions is different from how a Christian answers these questions. An Atheist might say that there is no purpose as to why they are here because life is an accident and that there is nothing after they die, therefore what they should do is enjoy life to the fullest and do whatever feels right today. The Christian looks at life differently and says that there is a purpose to why they are here because they are an image bearer of God who is created to know God and to be with Him forever, even after I die!

Our worldview changes everything! It tells us how we got here, why we are here, and where we’re going - and the incredible thing that we learn in the Bible is that not only do we have answers to these important questions, but we know the Creator of the Universe. We don’t just know about Him… we actually know Him. We can have a relationship with Him. This morning as we look once again in the book of Psalms, we come to one of the chapters that has encouraged my walk with the Lord the most: Psalm 8. We don’t just worship a god - no, we worship a God who as the children’s song reminds us, “He’s got the whole world in His hands.” He is good. He is great. He has a plan for us today and that is to know Him, to worship Him, and to be with Him forever. Let’s read about our indescribable God together!

Psalm 8 CSB

For the choir director: on the Gittith. A psalm of David. 1 Lord, our Lord, how magnificent is your name throughout the earth! You have covered the heavens with your majesty. 2 From the mouths of infants and nursing babies, you have established a stronghold on account of your adversaries in order to silence the enemy and the avenger. 3 When I observe your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you set in place, 4 what is a human being that you remember him, a son of man that you look after him? 5 You made him little less than God and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: 7 all the sheep and oxen, as well as the animals in the wild, 8 the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea that pass through the currents of the seas. 9 Lord, our Lord, how magnificent is your name throughout the earth!

This song of creation fills us with joy as we remember God’s goodness and greatness and how His glory fills the whole earth. Friends, he woke us up today. He brought us here today. We have the opportunity to worship Him today. Let’s praise Him for WHO He is and what He has done!

God Deserves Our Praise (1a)

Now, we’ve covered some space since our last chapter, Psalm 3. But like Psalm 3, Psalm 8 gives us a superscript that proves to be helpful as we try to learn more about the context of this Psalm of Creation. We see here that this song of Israel was composed for the choir director, on the Gittith, by King David.

“Gittith was a musical instrument of Gath - Gath was Goliath’s city.” David is the one who fought Goliath not with his own power, but by obediently relying on God’s power. See, Goliath taunted the God of Israel. He taunted God’s name - The one whose name is magnificent. The one who deserved praise. What did David do? David trusted in the Lord and sought for God’s power and glory to be seen to all nations and God used David to bring the giant down. This is the person that God desires - one who loves His name and desires for His glory to be revealed throughout the world!

What prevents us from praising God? Often our circumstances, more often, though, it’s ourselves! This isn’t a recent development - although if you walk into a bookstore, you quickly discover just how much our world praises and worships self… but we know this dates back to the Garden of Eden. Do you remember who shot the first dart of self-idolization? Satan fired this poison dart at Adam and Eve as he tempted them with the forbidden fruit and this lovely line, “You don’t die… you’ll be just like God.” What happened? Adam and Eve ate and sinned against God because they were looking out and living for self. This is what we see in our world today - people looking out for and living for themselves. Thinking that they could be happy if they just have this car, that job, a certain title, a specific amount of money. If we just had more for our self - but here’s the problem with that logic.

Romans 3:23 CSB

23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;

We all have fallen short of God’s standard. In other words, self is the problem! Romans 5 and 6 tell us that sin leads to death and this is something that impacts all of us because we’ve all sinned. Our self, our heart, our actions they are the problem… but how do many try to solve these problems? By themselves. This doesn’t work, though!

Romans 1:28 CSB

28 And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a corrupt mind so that they do what is not right.

So it was then, and so it is today, we live in a Romans 1 world that is corrupted by sin as people live in opposition to God and praise things that don’t deserve to be praised. So, who does deserve to be praised? Not you, not me, not another sinful person… but there is One - our God. Psalm 8 begins by saying Lord, our Lord. Can we pause for a minute and just reflect on the joy it is to be able to say “Our Lord”? In a few weeks we’re going to unpack Psalm 23 and David there says the Lord is MY Shepherd. Church, isn’t that a gift to be able to say about the Creator of the Universe? We call Him OUR Lord, MY Shepherd, Father.

But when we get to David’s description of the Lord, the original language actually helps us out a bunch. As we read this in the English, as happens in other places, where we see “Our God” or “Our Lord” repeat, we wonder why it repeats. But here in the original Hebrew, we actually see two different words. First, we see Yahweh - the personal name of God. Second, we see Adonai - which means Lord in terms of a King. So what David is saying in this Psalm of praise is “O Yahweh, our King, how majestic is your name throughout all the earth.” God’s name is great and greatly to be praised!

What does this name Yahweh mean?

Exodus 3:14 CSB

14 God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.”

I am who I am. I will be what I will be. In the name of God, there is a promise for God’s people.

Can I give you some good news about our God?

He is uncreated

He is eternally faithful

He is complete, lacking nothing

He is King of Kings

He redeems His people

This God - who rules and reigns as Creator and Sustainer of Creation, He deserves our worship. In fact, He is the only One deserving of worship and praise. Other religions argue for their version of God. Other worldviews argue that we all deserve to be praised as humans for our goodness and virtue. Our world produces many things that people worship and our heart perpetuates idols crafted after whatever desire we have in the moment. We worship so many things in this life. But there’s only One thing that deserves it. Psalm 8:1 is powerful because it makes an exclusive claim - there is one Lord. One God. One King over Creation. Others can disagree. In fact, the majority of the world disagrees with what the Bible teaches… but that doesn’t mean the Bible is wrong. Aren’t you thankful that God didn’t leave the Bible up to a majority vote? God said it, that settles it. As one commentator put it regarding Psalm 8, “Israel is right, and the rest are wrong.” Yahweh is the King. He is Lord. This means that He is the only one worthy of worship

This means that regardless of our circumstances, God deserves our praise. Whenever life is going well, God is good and greatly to be praised. Whenever suffering strikes, God didn’t change… He is still good and greatly to be praised.

One day every tongue will confess the name of the Lord

Philippians 2:9–11 CSB

9 For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth— 11 and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

South Gate, we have the privilege and honor to do this today! We gather to worship the name above all names - the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and we acknowledge regardless of our circumstances, He is worthy and we are needy! He deserves our praise!

God Demonstrates His Power (2-8)

God is great and His name is magnificent throughout the earth. His glory covers the earth. What is God’s glory or majesty? We could say this, His name is good and His power is great. The heavens and the earth display His power, or His glory. Think of where we live - Lindsey and I don’t get to do this as often as we’d like, but we both love being out on the water. In Missouri we’re blessed to have many rivers and streams that you can float down and if you’ve ever done that, you know that you can close your eyes and the current will take you downstream and you can hear Missouri wildlife and smell the crisp air and feel the sun beaming on your skin. This screams of God’s goodness and greatness. When you see a rainbow after a summer storm, this screams of God’s goodness and greatness. Parents, whenever you held your baby for the first time in your arms, that screams of God’s goodness and greatness. We see these things regularly and it can be easy to become desensitized to them, but David is telling us that we worship God because first of WHO He is and second, what HE has done! David reminds us that God is the covenant keeping God and that this great God demonstrates His power not only with the big things, the stars, the rivers, the planets, the mountains, the valleys… but also through, verse 2, the mouths of infants and babies.

Gabriel has always been a child that craves routine and structure, some of you have children like that and understand what that means, and what happens whenever they don’t have that structure! From the time that Gabriel was just a few weeks old and we’d put him to bed, we’d sing Jesus Loves Me. Weeks turn into months and eventually Gabriel mumbles along as we sing. More time goes by and then Gabriel starts to sing the tune. After a while, he sings the song and to this day, that’s what he does whenever we put him to bed as we sit in his room together and sing “Jesus Loves Me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” People talk about how we want to see our world changed for the better as we see division and things that go against Scripture all around us as evil is paraded and celebrated, where does that begin? Parents, it begins in our homes with our children! It begins with our infants declaring timeless truths about God. But it’s not only infants, but nursing babies who can’t even say words! Their cries silence the enemy and the avenger. I’m not sure about you, but the cries of a baby are piercing and powerful, but maybe we wonder what exactly a baby can do because they’re so helpless! This doesn’t make much sense to say that God uses a baby that is wholly dependent on its parents to silence the powerful enemy - but what is God saying? Look with me in 1 Corinthians 1

1 Corinthians 1:26–29 CSB

26 Brothers and sisters, consider your calling: Not many were wise from a human perspective, not many powerful, not many of noble birth. 27 Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. 28 God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world—what is viewed as nothing—to bring to nothing what is viewed as something, 29 so that no one may boast in his presence.

Have you discovered this? God has chosen what is insignificant and despised. What is weak. Jars of clay. So that HIS strength and greatness shines clearly for all to see! Think of Psalm 3 last week with King David being hunted by 12,000 of his former soldiers and opposed by his son, Absalom. Remember what they said about him? There is no help for him in God. He’s hopeless. But what happens? God delivers David! God demonstrates His strength through our weakness. God uses weak people to do great things! This is what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12 that he boasts in his weaknesses because when he is weak, God is strong!

Think of the story of Gideon and the Israelites in Judges 7. There were 135,000 Midianites and 32,000 Israelites. Outnumbered 4-1. Then God cuts the army from 32,000 to 10,000. Now they’re outnumbered 13-1. Then God asys that is still too many and cuts the army to 300. Outnumbered 450-1 and God says, “That’s enough.” How does this make any sense that 300 defeat 135,000? Because it was God who won the battle. It was God who made them strong. James Johnston shares it like this, “When God uses weak people to do great and mighty things, His glory shines because it is obviously His power and not ours.” This is how God demonstrates His glory throughout the earth, by using broken, weak, fallen people to do great and mighty things. By using infants and babies to change the world one cry at a time. The universe declares the glory of God when toddlers pray before bed. Young mom’s who spend much of your day wiping noses, changing diapers, cleaning up messes, singing songs, and folding clothes, hear what God is saying through his servant David in Psalm 8 - the God of the Universe is demonstrating His power and making His name and glory known in this world through YOU. This is remarkable - and this is what God does in and through us to silence the enemy.

Can you think of another child who grew up and silenced enemies and opponents? Remember in Psalm 2 Braden reminded us that the King over creation is Jesus Christ. God made a promise in Genesis 3 that from the seed of the woman would come a snake-crushing Savior. God’s plan to silence the enemy is through one generation after another generation that eventually leads to this promised Child. Do you know what Jesus did as a child? He silenced the chief priests and later on he applies Psalm 8 to Himself in Matthew 21:14-16

Matthew 21:14–16 CSB

14 The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 When the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonders that he did and the children shouting in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant 16 and said to him, “Do you hear what these children are saying?” Jesus replied, “Yes, have you never read: You have prepared praise from the mouths of infants and nursing babies?”

Jesus accepted the praise of the children and is saying that Psalm 8 is pointing us ahead to Him. Psalm 8 tells us that children praise God, Jesus is saying in Matthew 21 that these children are praising Him. Why? Because He is God in the flesh - so whenever someone says that Jesus never claimed to be God, with love and respect we point to the Old Testament and show how over and over again, Jesus fulfills what only God could fulfill and claims these titles for Himself. God demonstrates His power through what is weak, even through children.

But this isn’t where Psalm 8 stops - God also reveals His power through creation. David notes this

Psalm 8:3 CSB

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

Do you see the word “Your” show up here again and again? You and Your show up 15x in Psalm 8, reminding us again and again that this Psalm and all of creation and all of history is ultimately about God. This Psalm begins with God’s name and ends with God’s name - and when the last day dawns and time is no more, when we all stand before Him at the shore of eternity, brothers and sisters, what stands will be the name of the Lord - it’s always been about Him and it will always be about Him!

In this life, we get the benefit of observing all that He has made - including the moon and the stars. Now, no shame, I’m a nerd and I love space. There was a man in my church in Salem who had a gift and passion for taking photos of galaxies and stars. I’m not talking about the $25 telescope you get from Amazon, I’m talking about multiple times that amount. Tim would take and post these photos on Facebook and to this day they are crazy for me to wrap my mind around! A couple of Octobers ago, for pastor appreciation month, he let me pick a photo and he got it for me in a frame, and if you come by my office you’ll see this image of the Andromeda galaxy. This is the nearest galaxy to ours (2.5 million light years), the Milky Way and it’s estimated to contain 1 trillion different stars, 3x the number in our galaxy.

The Andromeda galaxy exists because it was created by God and gives God glory. Do you want to have your mind blown? It is estimated that there are 2 trillion galaxies in observable universe… and each one contains billions of stars.

Did you know that the sun is a star? Our sun is considered in scientific terms to be a medium star - but it’s so big that it could fit nearly 1 million earths inside the sun. If the earth were this golf ball, you could fill up an entire school bus with golf balls and that school bus would be the sun. That sounds big, but there are much bigger stars out there.

Check this one out, this is Betelgeuse “Beetlejuice” - if the earth were this golf ball, Beetelgeuse would be the size of 6 Empire State Buildings. You could fit 252 trillion golf balls inside Betelgeuse - enough golf balls to fill the New Orleans Superdome thousands of times over. There are much bigger stars, though.

This is Canis Majoris - the big dog - and if the earth were this golf ball, Canis Majoris would be the height of Mt. Everest. 3.74 quadrillion earths could fit in Canis Majoris.

But this isn’t the biggest star anymore - depending on the calculation, UY Scuti could fit between 4 and 7 quadrillion earths inside of it. Meaning, if the earth were this golf ball, UY Scuti would be the entire United States!

Do you feel small this morning?

Do you see this final image? In 1977, Voyager 1 was launched and flew for over a decade before, in 1990 snapping this picture from 3.7 billion miles away from the Earth. The space probe was flying at a speed of 38,000 mph and turned its camera backward, towards the earth, and snapped this image. In this ray of sunlight, lies what scientists call the “Pale Blue Dot.” That tiny dot is everything you’ve ever known. Every person you’ve ever loved. Every human that has ever lived. And Psalm 8 says that this is the work of God’s fingers. Whenever I first learned some of these things in middle school, I began to feel cosmically insignificant. I felt like I was a microscopic speck compared to the sea of the galaxies! Yet, verse 4 says that God remembers us. God remembers man - David uses the word “Enosh” here, which is significant because that word emphasizes the mortality of humanity. That we are here one minute and gone the next, but in the midst of this, God remembers us.

See, some worldviews would say that life is simply the product of chance. An accident. Many atheists say that Christians are crazy for believing in the miracle of the virgin birth of Christ… while they believe in the miracle of the virgin birth of the universe. Everything from nothing? Order from disorder? What does your worldview tell you about life? As a Christian we have hope because we’re reminded that even though we are tiny specks on a pale blue dot, God loves us. God remembers us.

We might be small in the big picture of the creation, but we are significant in the eyes of our Creator! See, David didn’t know all that we know today about galaxies and stars, but he knew enough to know that the universe is massive, but God loves us immensely! Do you believe that today? During the hard days, do you know that God remembers you? During the days where it feels like nothing can go right, do you understand that God has a plan for you? When it seems like you’re all alone, do you remember that God holds you fast? Friends, realize that your brokenness is welcome at the foot of the cross because God delights in using weak, fallen people to do great and mighty things!

Do you see what verse 5 tells us? God has crowned mankind with glory and honor and made us ruler over the works of His hands. Go back to your worldview - how did you get here? Atheism says that we have evolved from other animals and the result of years and years of chance. Many believe that we are no different from animals. Life is not sacred. But, as those who hold to a Biblical worldview, we know different. Genesis 2 tells us that God breathed the breath of life into man. Genesis 1 tells us that we are made in God’s image. In our children’s department, we see this reminder each week “We are made in God’s Image, for God’s Glory.” Friends, we are created by God in order to rule over creation as His royal ambassadors! What is the crown that God gives to us? It is the fact that we represent Him as His image bearers. You and I are not God - we are less than God. We are not the Creator, we are His creation… yet, at the same time, we are distinct from the rest of creation because we are created to rule. Look at verse 6 and following, we rule over everything.

Hebrews 2:5–9 CSB

5 For he has not subjected to angels the world to come that we are talking about. 6 But someone somewhere has testified: What is man that you remember him, or the son of man that you care for him? 7 You made him lower than the angels for a short time; you crowned him with glory and honor 8 and subjected everything under his feet. For in subjecting everything to him, he left nothing that is not subject to him. As it is, we do not yet see everything subjected to him. 9 But we do see Jesus—made lower than the angels for a short time so that by God’s grace he might taste death for everyone—crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death.

So, if we are crowned with God’s glory as His image bearers and we are created to rule over creation, we have to ask ourselves a question: Why are things as crazy as they are today? Because of sin. Sin has consequences and sin separates us from God and sin has broken this once good and perfect world… However, because of Jesus we can have hope today because He too humbled Himself and took on human flesh. He “was made lower than the angels for a short time” - meaning while on the earth as the God-man born in Bethlehem. But Jesus’ story doesn’t stop in Bethlehem, it continues to Calvary. And it continues to Eternity as He serves today as our risen Savior and Lord who tasted death in our place. This is our hope - that God uses what is foolish in the eyes of the world, what is weak, what doesn’t make sense, in order to shame the wise and reverse the thousand year curse. Yes, today things aren’t as they once were, but one day things will not be what they presently are. Because our Savior took a crown of thorns upon His head, one day you will receive a crown of gold in glory.

Friends, God demonstrates His power through human weakness. Today, God has a call for you and for me as His ambassadors to represent Him well. To rule over creation with wisdom. Look up and see the bigness of God and before that leads you to despair, remember that He remembers you. He created you. He knows you. He loves you. God can do more with your empty than you can do with your “full.” Savannah Guthrie outlines this in her book, “God Does His Best Work With Empty” as she notes that our dissatisfaction, loneliness, bitterness, and emptiness can be fulfilled and satisfied in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Today if you’re here and you are struggling because of sin or if you feel cosmically insignificant and isolated and alone, you can rejoice and find rest today in the God who created you. Your brokenness is welcome at the feet of the cross and your weakness only makes His strength even greater! Look to Him and fulfill the purpose He has for you.

God Deserves Our Praise (9)

So how does this end? Many Psalms end with what’s called an inclusio - it ends how it begins. Many people ask what is the theme of the Bible? We know that there are many names in the Bible. Many stories. Many books. Because of this, an answer is hard to come by for some. Maybe you think the theme is love. Maybe you think the theme is you. I want to be as clear as possible this morning: At the core of the Bible is God. A God who yes, is loving, but a God who is just as just as He is loving - many want to say that God’s love is greater than His other attributes, nonsense. He is what He is and He is fully what He is. If God is love, He is fully love. If God is just, He is fully just. If God is holy, He is fully holy and we might add that the only attribute of God that is mentioned to the extreme, or maximal degree, isn’t His love… it’s His holiness. (See Isaiah 6:3 - God is holy, holy, holy) We live in a world that has distorted and dismissed the holiness of God in place of the happiness of man. We think that God is powerless to do something. Waiting. Watching. Passive. What has David explained to us in Psalm 8? In a world that is at war, God is greatly concerned about His glory. He has a plan for His glory and the good of His people. A plan that involves His Son doing what we couldn’t do for ourselves - a baby boy who would grow up to slay the serpent.

I’ve heard many over the last few years say that they feel sorry that Lindsey and I have to raise our boys in these crazy times. Do you believe in the providence of God? Do you believe in the purposes of God? Do you believe that God is seated on His throne? Don’t feel sorry for young parents - God has a reason for this season. In a world at war, God cares greatly about His glory and gives us the task of raising up the next generation to be dragon slayers who stand on Scripture in an upside down world. We’re raising boys and girls who will grow up in an upside down world where evil is championed and righteousness is condemned but we will equip them with the Armor of God to be able to stand against the schemes of the evil one.

What has God done? Psalm 8 shows us God’s greatness - look to the heavens, look to creation, look at the very name of God and see that He is faithful, powerful, majestic. God is good. Regardless of our circumstances. Regardless of our feelings. He deserves our praise because of WHO He is and because of what He has done!

Nancy DeClaisse-Walford, “The bank vault of human worth is not located in our own existence. We are valuable because God values us and because God has commanded us to value creation!” God values us. He remembers us. He loves us. He made us. What is our response to this incredible truth?

How Does A Person Respond to God’s Work?

Realization

We look around as Psalm 8 describes and we see the wonder of creation. We see all that God has made and we are filled with awe. Because God is Who He is and will continue to be who He is, we must first realize that there is a God and, secondly, that we are not Him!

Repentance

Psalm 8 reminds us now only of Creation but of Calvary as we see that from the mouths of infants and babies, God silences the enemy. This points us to the Son of God - Jesus Christ - coming to crush sin and death once and for all. As we realize all that God has done in creation and in salvation, we must respond with repentance and realize that we stand separated from God because of our sin. We all are guilty here of sin. We all make poor decisions. We all abdicate our role to rule as God’s ambassadors and represent Him well. We all fall short - and for that, we must repent.

Rejoice

Thankfully this isn’t where the story stops. As we think about what God has made and what God has done, we rejoice. God has made His name great throughout the earth - and the main way that God demonstrates His glory and greatness is through the work of Jesus Christ. See, Jesus came to this world to seek and save sinners and to die in our place on the cross! Today, we can rejoice in what He has done for us. We can rejoice that God didn’t forget about us. But that He remembers us. He loves us. He has a plan for us.

Rest

Today, where do you find rest? Our world is distressed and if you look at the news you’ll be depressed, but Jesus Christ came to provide our souls with REST. Today you can rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ. You can rest that the same God who created the stars, can change your heart.

Are you feeling really big today? Like you have it all figured out? Like you’re better than everyone else? Psalm 8 reminds us to look up and quickly realize just how small we truly are. Are you feeling weak today? Do you feel like what’s before you is impossible? Then you’re in a good place - God’s power is made perfect in human weakness. Look at what He has done in your heart as a Christian, He has changed you. He has given you a new name - you’re no longer a rebel, you’re redeemed! Not because of your goodness, but because of His. Today, Christian - you are a commissioned royal ambassador of the King of Creation to not just rule, but to rejoice and tell others this message of the King. If you’re here and you’re struggling, today, come to Christ. God still uses crooked sticks like King David to hit straight shots.

“A Psalm for Stargazers and Soul Searchers” - Who Am I?