June 27 2021 PSALM 8 -FINAL

Intro

Good morning GracePointe! It is a joy to come to you today and worship God together with you. We are so thankful to Sid and the worship team for leading us in corporate worship and leading us in taking communion. I am so thankful that we as a church body remember Christ’s sacrifice by taking communion together and reflecting on just how awesome God is for sending His son Jesus.

We are just getting started in our series called Psalms of Summer where each week, one of the pastors will cover a psalm. As I began looking at the psalms and digging in, I was amazed at the diversity within the psalms. The writers covered an enormous amount of life in these Psalms.

Wisdom Psalms give practical guidelines for living. Royal Psalms point to the messianic rule of Christ and King over all of heaven and earth. Psalms of lament express the author’s crying out to God in difficult circumstances. Thanksgiving psalms usually reflect the author’s gratitude for a personal deliverance or provision from God. There are even Psalms where the author calls upon God to pour out His wrath on the enemies of God.

This diversity is seen even in the background of the Psalms.

Key Facts about the Psalms

one of only two Old Testament books to identify itself as a composite work containing multiple authors (Proverbs is the other).

David was the primary author, composing 73. Asaph wrote 12. Descendants of Korah KORE-AH wrote 10. Solomon wrote one or two. Ethan and Herman (tribe of Levi) were responsible for two. Moses wrote one. The rest do not contain information about the authors.

The book of Psalms was originally titled in Hebrew TUH-HEEL-LEEM which is translated “Praise Songs”. The title we are familiar with comes from the greek word SAL-MOY and is “Songs of Praise”.

Today, we will be focusing on a Psalms of praise. These are also called hymns. These portray the author’s offering of direct admiration to God. All of the psalms point to encouraging the person interacting with the psalm to express worship, to praise God for who He is and what He has done.

Let us look now at Psalm 8. Since it is a shorter psalm I am going to read the whole thing here at the top.

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 just all jump straight to the question we are all asking. What is a JUH-Deeth? Doing some research, it looks to be an ancient plucked instrument. Friends…this was a guitar. An ancient one that was played quite differently…but it was a guitar. The english translation is Gibson. I am kidding! This is apparently a stringed musical instrument from the city of Gath. Goliath, the Philistine champion whom David struck down, came from Gath. I find it interesting to think about David playing songs of praise on an instrument that came from the city of a His enemy. Isn’t the word of God never ending in the way that you dig deeper and deeper to find these amazing connections to other events and stories. God is so good to have given us His word.

Appropriate Tensions in the Person of God

One of my favorite things to learn about Theology in school was about the healthy tensions that exist with God. It was like a volleyball net where you needed both poles on either side to accurately understand and play the game. In a similar way, we see these tensions with God. One such tension is seen here in these early 4 words.

As this starts out here in Psalm 8, “Oh LORD”. The name used here in Hebrew is Yahweh and it is used 6519 times in the bible. It is the proper name of God and includes the meaning of Lord and Master. This personal name of God is widely interpreted. One meaning is “HE IS”. Many scholars point to the most proper meaning as being “He Brings into Existence whatever Exists”.

This is the one side of that volleyball net. The God is who was, is and is to come. It says that God is massive beyond what we could think or imagine. ‘O Lord’ points me to the magnitude, magnificence, wonder and otherness of God. Like the sky is always above you, He IS. HE IS. Whether I believe, whether I admit or not, whether the people around me believe or trust in Him, HE IS.

Isaiah 44:6 ESV

6 Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.

To the people who were hearing this, singing this.....to them, Oh Lord meant God who is above all that they know.

However, there is another part of that volleyball net....

“OUR Lord” This shift in word usage is crucial beca use not only is God above all things but He is Lord of man. He redeems. He is the master and he is our Master. He is not a cosmic deity that interacts sparingly. Instead of only being the sky, He is the air that we breath as it points out in Genesis 2:7. He leads the interaction from the very beginning by creating us, saving and redeeming us, and sanctifying us day in and day out. God is awesome and interacts with man in an awesome way.

This is HIS reputation. His glory. and it is that Glory that the psalm points to as we read the rest of the Psalm. But we must begin with the fact that God’s glory, His majesty, His reputation is both bigger than anything we can think or imagine and also directly connected to us as He is our Lord and Master.

Today, I want to begin with how that Majesty is proclaimed in Creation.

His majesty proclaimed in Creation

Psalm 8:1–3 ESV

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,

God’s name is majestic. His glory is above the heavens. Verses 1–2 say God's glory is seen in two places: First, we see it in creation. Verse 1 says God covered the heavens with his majesty (ESV: "glory"). Michael reminded in psalm 19.

"The heavens declare the glory of God." The purpose of creation is to magnify and declare the beauty and glory of God. The heavens are not idolatrous. They exist for glory - his glory, not their own. Therefore we should not misuse creation. Sunsets and starry nights are for savoring God. Zoos are meant to zoom in on God's creativity and imagination. A garden is an oasis for resting in the Lord. What we see in nature is meant to constantly show us that God exists and tell us how amazing a Creator He truly is.

One of the strongest arguments in favor of the the existence of God is the “argument from design.” This approach claims that observations of design in nature are best explained by a deliberate, intelligent act of creation rather than by randomness or luck. It is hard to argue with that as their is such detail, much of it we don’t even know…but the detail is striking.

Romans points out that creation helps us to perceive God’s attributes in Romans 1:20

Romans 1:20 ESV

20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Now last week Pastor Michael took a turn playing an Astro physicist and explaining that the time it takes for light to get somewhere. Our research and fact checking department wanted to clear up that for light to get to Pluto is 5.5 hours. The time it takes for light to get to us On planet earth is 8.5 minutes. Right now, the furthest thing we know of in the universe is the galaxy MACS0647-JD, which is about 13.3 billion light-years away. how Long does it take for light to get to macs? It takes a good long while. That answer is both scientific and appropriate as i am not good at math or science.

13.3 Billion light years away. This psalm is indicating that God’s glory is above the heavens. In the time of David, He looked up and pondered the stars but He was only looking at his sky. Yet now we have the hubble telescope and sattelite imagery....still the Great I am is beyond anything known. God is big and is everywhere. We read in Jeremiah,

Jeremiah 23:23–24 ESV

23 “Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? 24 Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.

So in all that God has created, we see His majesty and His glory is proclaimed.

Second, we see God's glory in helplessness. Verse 2 says God established a stronghold from the mouths of children and nursing infants. His point is that God uses weakness to overcome strength.

He can use the weakness of an infant to overcome to might of an army. His glory is most visible, not in our cunning and strength, but in our weakness and dependence on Him.

God is so strong and great that He can derive praise even from infants and children. Jesus referred to this verse after He cleansed the temple. When he did it, the teachers and pharisees were indignant..

Matthew 21:16 ESV

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’?”

The praise of the Lord is a battle cry to the enemy. Perhaps David had in mind the cry of baby Moses, when Pharaoh's daughter retrieved him from the bank of the Nile. Exodus 2:6 tells us that when she opened the basket, "she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying."This same child who grew up and was used of God to stand before Pharaoh, the Hebrew's enemy, and command him to let the Hebrews go from Egypt and their slavery there. God often chooses "what is weak in the world to shame the strong" (1 Corinthians 1:27). Paul echoes some of the same themes in his second letter to the Corinthians. There, he explains how God places His powerful gospel in fragile, limited vessels, such as Jars of Clay for His own glory (2 Corinthians 4:7).

So God’s reputation, His awesome glory is seen in His majesty of creation and in helplessness. All of creation, whether it be the massiveness of an ocean or the minute detail of an atom, God’s glory is seen in the majesty of it all. However, the Psalm points other ways that God’s majestic name, His character can shape our own identity. God’s majesty positions man’s place.

His majesty positions our place

I have often said that one of the best definitions of humility is for God, in all his wisdom and knowledge, to set the definition of my life. My response is to agree with that definition. To often in life, we like to be the definer of who we are. But as we see in Psalm 8, there is a proper position that man takes in this relationship.

Psalm 8:4–5 ESV

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.

As David scanned the night sky, he felt insignificant and wondered why such a magnificent Creator would care about man. It is interesting here that the Hebrew words used here for “Man” is actually a term enosh which signifies the individual person. It focuses on the the mortal man and leans toward the individual connotation.

David is not asking who are WE that God would think of US. He is asking who am I? that God would think of me?

Listen folks, our proper place is that on one hand....each one of us is a frail human being with a propensity to desire ourselves to death. I think of Isaiah 64:6 where the prophet explains how all fade like leaves as our inequities, like the wind, take us away. Man is capable of destruction. He is so insignificant his life is so much like a vapor, he so soon disappears, he is so sinful and polluted.

David is saying who is this guy (pointing to possibly himself) and saying who am I that God thinks of me.

Even further. Psalm 8 references all of mankind…all of the sons and daughters to come down the line and says “who are they, who are we, that God you visit, that you care? This caring is referenced in Job 10:12

Job 10:12 ESV

12 You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit.

Who is the human race that God is not just mindful but actually does things for? In Elliots Commentary of this Psalm, he states that “The answer to this question must always touch the two poles, of human frailty on the one hand, and the glory of human destiny on the other. “O the grandeur and the littleness, the excellence and the corruption, the majesty and the meanness, of man.”—Pascal.

Our position is to always understand that we are nothing but vapor. Frail humans who absolutely need God in all things while also embracing His destiny for us. God’s definition of us includes who are. The good and the bad that we have picked up along the way. The point is that God knows you and defines you. Our response to all that God is and has done is to agree with that definition. We like to swing wildly one way or another.

On one hand, we can say that our definition only includes that good things, the things we take joy in, the things we are commended for. On the other, we can think too lowly of ourselves and not how God thinks of us. We must understand that God loves us. That is included in our definition of who we are. We are loved by God.

I was pondering the extremes of my definition. For example:

I like to sing. I enjoy making people laugh. I enjoy encouraging people. I love being a husband and a father. These can be part of our definition. However, there are other parts to our definition isn’t there.

I can struggle with pride. I can hurt others with my humor. I can struggle to ask hard questions because I fear what people may think. I struggle to show up for my family at times.

The joy of following Jesus is He knows all of this…and wants to lead us down a road where He hones us. Shapes us. Through the power of the Holy Spirit makes us more and more into the image of Jesus. But we must know our position.

That position is bowing in reverence to the one who has a name above every other name…who was the first and the last. God’s majesty is proclaimed in His glory, it helps to set up man’s position in all things, and finally it helps Prepare Us for Our Purpose.

His Majesty prepares us for Our Purpose

In the classic survivor type 2004 movie “Flight of the Phoenix” there is a line…”A man only needs one thing in life…something to love. if you can’t give him that, give him something to hope for. If you can’t give him that, just give him something to do!”

As we think about our relationship with God through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit…we have all the things. We love others because He first loved us. We have a hope in eternity through Jesus Christ and....He gave us something to do.

Psalm 8:6–8 ESV

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.

I love how this Psalm points out what they do not know. God’s glory is “above the heavens”. They really had no idea what was up there. Here in verse 8, we see “whatever passes along the paths of the seas”. It reminds me of a fishing time where we hooked into a monster sturgeon right over here in Oregon City. We were not fishing for fish that large. We had to move all around the river to avoid breaking the line. We had not actually seen the size of the fish until it broke the water…folks honestly. I got super scared and thought about cutting the line. No way was that monster fish getting in our boat…

According to one study I found from 2018, 65% of the Earth is still undiscovered and oceans, rainforests, and the lovely hotspot destination of Antarctica....so much of God’s creation we still don’t even know.

In this passage, we first see how Psalm 8 is referencing the creation story found in Genesis.

Genesis 1:26–27 ESV

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

He told them 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"

As humankind, we are tasked with the glory of carrying out our purpose of maintaining order, shining a light on creation. Keeping a beneficent relationship. We are representatives of the God who created all things. We are managers…NOT Owners. Even in this control of Creation, we are to live out lives of praise to the One who created it.

All through the Bible we are given tasks and commands by God. But in every case the expectation is that we will carry out those mandates in a God-like way. When God in the Old Testament demands that his people pay attention to widows and orphans, when in the New Testament Jesus charges the disciples to pay attention to the poor, it is a given that we are to carry out those tasks in ways that glorify God.

Only a fool would think that paying attention to widows would mean exploiting them. Only a fool would think that Jesus' command to be with the poor means no more than keeping track of their poverty in some well-kept ledger without ever lifting a finger to help change their situation. Our job is to steward all the works of God’s fingers in a way that brings Him glory.

But what about?

Most of us can think of plenty of examples where man is ill equipped to handle this charge. What if man was not on the earth? Well there would be no music. No family. No friends. No laughter. No achievements. There would be no war. No abuse of power. No sin causing devastation for generation after generation. So when reading how we are have dominion over the work of God’s hands…I think God....wasn’t there someone better.

There is someone better. Jesus Christ.

When we look at the second chapter of Hebrews, the author quotes Psalm 8: 4-5 almost in the same I was asking about before. Who is man? Hebrews goes on to point out our hero of the story...

Hebrews 2:9 ESV

9 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.

God’s majesty points to the One who has real dominion - Jesus

This verse and many others others point to the one whose name is above every other name - Jesus. While Psalm 8 focuses on how God’s glory is seen in creation, and the position and purpose of man, the New Testament draws upon the theology of Psalm 8. That theology points to the truth that Jesus Christ, in defeating death, ushered in dominion overall things…even death itself. It is also this Jesus who was and is, and will always be mindful of man.

Think of the words of the classic hymn His eye is on the Sparrow

When Jesus is my portion A constant friend is He His eye is on the sparrow And I know He watches over me

This is inspired from Ps 32:8 and Mathew 6:26. look at the birds of the air. See how they are cared for. So how they are watched. You are more valued than the birds of the air. God has his eye on you. He rules as our Lord and Master. The one who’s name is majestic and glory is above the heavens. Our ultimate ruler who makes all things right is Jesus Christ.

APPLICATION and REMINDERS

A psalm like this one should remind us a few things. It can be easy to hear a Psalm like this, even sing a song based on this Psalm and not do anything in our lives because of it. But I would urge us today to make some changes or continue to do the following things in light of what we are seeing in Psalm 8.

The first is that we should be

1. Actively seeking out areas where God’s glory is proclaimed in nature.

So many times, we can let our schedules with good things and bad things and boring things take up our time. That precious resource that God has given us. But what if we actively made it a point to seek out how God’s majesty is proclaiming his glory. How many of us in the room who have been long time Oregonians go out to a place in nature....a walk by the river, a hike in Mt Hood, a lake nearby, a stroll on the beach. There are a lot of good feelings but there is also a creeping feeling of regret. Why in the world have I not been doing this more? To me, it is like nature is performing this amazing concert for God all the time. But I decide....nah…I would rather watch my show, play on my phone, and complain about how I don’t have time. God desires for us to join in on that concert with nature. To proclaim His glory by getting out in nature and marveling at the mighty work of His hands.

2. Daily Assessing our understanding of our position with God through His word.

Often, we all want to think less highly or more highly of ourselves than God thinks. On a daily basis, we should be getting in God’s word to assess our thinking and allow the Holy Spirit to turn our hearts and minds back into alignment with God. We are never out of God’s sight but our minds can be distorting how He looks at us. Our definition. Getting in God’s word and exploring our position with God is critical to a thriving life that explores how His majesty defines our purpose.

Begin a bible study. Get in a small group. Hear from other people who are going through God’s word and applying it to their life. Let the word of the Lord remind you of exactly who you are and more importantly who God is.

3. Reminding ourselves that our purpose is to bring glory to God both in what we do and how we do it.

One of my least favorite quotes that people use a lot is the ends justify the means. Perhaps you have heard that spoke to you or thought it to yourself. This is not a Godly way to be doing something but the ultimate goal is a Godly one so we will press on. The Bible is very clear that in God’s eyes, the ends never justify sinful means.

God doesn’t just want us focusing on results, even when these goals are good. God cares how we accomplish these results. Rather than go through every bad way of doing God’s will, it is much easier to talk about the right way. The right way to accomplish a good thing is always by relying on God and his grace through Jesus Christ.

In Psalm 8, we are reminded of our purpose to steward this marvelous world while also reminding us that the ultimate authority is Jesus Christ. We seek to give God glory in the way we interact with creation, including other humans. We give God glory when we love one another just as Christ has loved us. We give God glory when we love and pray for our enemies. We will come up short in this effort. All of us shift uncomfortably as we think of the times that we have not measured up. The right way to accomplish this is relying on God’s grace through Jesus Christ.

It is with good reason then that we can proclaim loudly with all of the instruments at our disposal....”Oh Lord our Lord…how majestic is your name in all the earth” God’s wisdom and power in the gospel of Jesus Christ is what fuels our passion for proclaiming that loudly as we live.

Let us pray

Will you stand with me as I leave you with a charge to give thanks to God By living out a life of praise to Him

Colossians 3:16–17 ESV

16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.