But We See Him

Psalm 8:3–9 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? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 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. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Intro:

Have you ever seen someone with a lot of talent and skill in something who failed to reach their potential?

They were a great athlete or could’ve been a phenomenal student if they’d only stayed the course and did what they were supposed to do?

Maybe it was one bad decision. Or maybe it was a host of poor choices—bad friends, negative thinking, terrible attitude.

Whatever it is… you know what they could’ve done, but for whatever reason, they simply didn’t make it. Their story could’ve been different, but it turned out to be a disappointment.

This is the story of humanity before the coming of Jesus. That’s what we are going to explore in our sermon this morning.

FCF: As humans, we have failed to be and do all that God laid out for us. It started with Adam and Eve, but it effects us all—every single one of us.

Transition: Psalm 8 paints a picture of our glorious God and our glorious Call, and it points us to our glorious Savior.

Main Point: Due to sin, we lost our glorious and honorable place of dominion, but God sent Jesus to be everything we couldn’t be.

I. Despite our sin, the LORD still cares about us (v. 3-4).

Illustration/Context: Imagine being with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. They walked and talked with God on a daily basis. A glorious friendship with the God of heaven. As people made in His image they had a mandate from God:

Genesis 1:28 “And God blessed them. And God said to them, “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.””

God allowed Adam to name the animals, and then God gave Adam and Eve rule and dominion over it all. As image-bearers of God, they reflected His glory and power on earth.

This all came to a screeching halt When Eve ate the fruit and gave it to Adam. Instead of this relationship, we now have distance and enmity with God.

As David writes, He is looking into the heavens and considering the LORD’s glory.

This is what we see in verses 1-3. He exults the majesty of the Lord.

Specifically, In verse three, he makes a note of the heavens, the moon, and the starts. He acknowledges that this is God’s work. God set them in place.

Illustration: If you’ve never tried it, go to a very dark place and look into the night sky. It will really give you perspective on how glorious God is.

David then thinks about himself and all humanity.

He asks a very humble and sincere question.

“When we consider how glorious and magnificent and majestic God is, who are we that he should think of us?”

This flies in the face of modern society, which tells us that we ought to command God on how to treat us and deal with us.

Application: like David, when we consider God, it should humble us. He is so glorious, and we are so far from glorious and honorable!

David is astonished at God’s merciful interest and care for us.

The two words, David uses are mindful and care.

To say that God is mindful of us means he has compassionate purpose for us (Kidner). He purposely brings us to his memory.

Similarly, to say that he cares for us means that he attends to us and takes action toward us in light of his care and compassion.

Application: Thinking about God should draw out two responses from us: humility and worship.

Humility because of our sinfulness.

As we consider the holiness and majesty and glory of God, we should be humbled because we see and know so deeply of our sinfulness and weakness. The gap between God’s holiness, and our sinfulness is so wide that we should cry out for mercy and pity.

Worship because of His glory and majesty.

At the same time, as we see the glory of God, it should draw us to worship. When we see something glorious and Majestic, it is built into our nature to worship. We should express our words of his majesty and glory. We should fill it deep inside and let that flow out of our mouths with words.

GOSPEL CALL: This is only the case if we have believed in Christ. When we see our sinfulness and the holiness of God, the next thing we need to see, is the cross! The cross is the bridge between a holy God and sinful people. Only faith in Christ can bring us close to the LORD and grant us forgiveness for our sins!

As we move forward, David brings our attention to the call that God has given us as humanity.

II. Despite our sin, the LORD gave us a glorious and honorable mandate (v. 5-9)

We have been crowned with glory and honor (v.5).

Despite our sin, we still reflect the image of God. We were made a little lower than the heavenly beings or angels. Some commentator suggest based on the Hebrew that this could even be translated. We were made a little lower than God.

In other words, we are made in Gods image and given a crown of glory and honor to rule and represent God on earth. We have worth and dignity because of how God made us and called us to operate in this world.

Apologetic: this is a reminder that this world does not understand humanity or God’s intent for us. To argue that we are evolved from single celled organisms in a cosmic big bang diminishes what we read here.

Also, the culture of abortion that treats babies as subhuman fails to understand this as well. This is why we need a biblical worldview today.

We have been given dominion over God’s creation (v.6-8).

We have God given authority to rule and reign over the creation.

Earlier, we read that he is looking at the work of Of God’s fingers. Now we see that we were given dominion over the work of his hands.

We can see all over the world that people have indeed domesticated animals for good use. We see that people have built cities and nations across the globe.

This is also a reminder that we are called to care for, and look over the Earth for the glory of God. As a good ruler, we are called to exercise dominion over everything on this earth for the glory of God.

God didn’t give this Mandate to angels. He gave it to us!

God’s people.. even his earthly kings… never exercised dominion over all the world.

Worse, when you think about the most dominating nations in the world today, they do not reflect the glorious and honorable image Of God hardly at all.

We see corrupt leadership of nations from east to west. From north to south we see corruption. From the top leadership to the bottom of the barrel, there is sin and corruption destroying the world even today.

This is not to say that the gospel is not powerful. This is to say that humanity as a hole has not yet exemplified this mandate and dominion of God.

Application: Like the world in the days leading up to the birth of Jesus, we should still be longing for something greater!

One of the greatest dangers of our age is growing complacent or content with the world’s status quo.

It is far too easy to have what we need, vote for who we like, and keep living our lives as though the world’s leaders will fix our problems.

It’s too tempting for us to look into the mirror and see ourselves as the solution to our problems and the world’s problems.

The world keeps telling us if we just vote for them or embrace their perspective, everything will be fixed. But this couldn’t be farther from the truth!

We need to set our eyes on Jesus!

Transition: The author of Hebrews has something to say about this passage, and that’s where we are going to finish up this morning.

III. Because of our sin, the Father sent us His Son to reign and bring salvation to broken humanity (Heb 2:5-9)

Illustration: Have you ever been reading a book or watching a movie and wanted to ask the author a question to help you understand it better? That’s what the book of Hebrews does for psalm chapter 8. And I’m so thankful for it!

Hebrews has an interpretation of our passage that sheds light on Christmas and the glory of Jesus. Let’s look at it together.

Hebrews 2:8–9 ESV

…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.

Putting all things under his feet means ALL things.

As we’ve already seen, that clearly hasn’t happened. Humans aren’t in control of everything.

Furthermore, God’s people have not yet had dominion over the earth in such a way that all people walk by faith and glorify God.

1 Cor. 15:25 shows that the ultimate aim of God is to have all people submit to Him.. through Christ.

We don’t see everything in subjection to humanity yet.

God’s goal and mandate for humanity has not been fulfilled in us.

Sin ruined us, and we haven’t used our dominion properly. Nor have we subdued everything for His glory as He deserved.

This is a sobering reminder that there’s more to come! God’s plan for humanity isn’t lost.. but it isn’t going to be fulfilled in us.

WE SEE HIM!

We see Him… the son of God who was “for a little while” made lower than the angels.

We see Him.. namely Jesus.. the baby born in the manger who would save His people from their sins.

We see Him… the King of Psalm 2 who is crowned with glory and honor..

We see Him.. whose glory and honor came through the suffering of death—the payment of sin on our behalf when we couldn’t do it ourselves!

We see Him.. who tasted death for everyone who believes in Him. He didn’t sweep sin under the rug. He paid for it by tasting death!

WE SEE JESUS who left the riches of heaven to enter this corrupt creation to bring salvation to all who would call on His name!

WE SEE HIM! DO YOU SEE HIM?! DO YOU SEE HIM?!

Conclusion: As we celebrate Christmas, we are reminded that Jesus came in the flesh to be the perfect man in our place.

Jesus is the blessed man of Psalm 1. He’s the promised King of Psalm 2. He’s the true human of Psalm 8.

Christmas about Jesus! He came to be everything we could be and save what no mere man could save!

This Christmas, fix your eyes on Jesus! Look to Him and give him all your trust! He is worthy of it all.