WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:01.199 Well, good morning, Church. 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:02.319 How are we this morning? 00:00:02.319 --> 00:00:04.400 It's good to see you all. 00:00:04.400 --> 00:00:10.960 As Bob said, my name is Jason Thacker, and it's been a real privilege to be with you all this weekend, especially last night at our underground session. 00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:15.839 We got to talk about some really interesting topics, especially in terms of what it means to be human. 00:00:15.839 --> 00:00:19.440 That's one of the questions we're asking today from Psalm 8. 00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:21.359 But I want us to slow down a little bit. 00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:27.199 Psalm 8 is one of those passages that many of us have parts of it memorized, that we've been crowned with glory and honor. 00:00:27.199 --> 00:00:35.200 But sometimes I think because of how familiar we are with this passage, we sometimes gloss over the whole point of the passage in the first place. 00:00:35.200 --> 00:00:44.719 But it's been a real joy to be with you all throughout this weekend last night at the Underground Session as we talked about the question of what is a human being, but specifically who is a moral person. 00:00:44.719 --> 00:00:50.479 And if that sounds kind of like a difference without a distinction, it's because that's the way God designed it to be. 00:00:50.479 --> 00:00:56.479 Many today in contemporary society will say that someone could be a human person, maybe the baby in the womb. 00:00:56.479 --> 00:01:07.680 That's a human being, but they're not yet a moral person, that somehow our value, our dignity, and worth exist on a sliding scale, that somehow we develop those things over time. 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:33.200 That our rights and the care, the duty, protection that we owe others is something that we gain at some point, whether it's at birth or whether it's sometime after birth, or even something, remember, friends, if it can be gained, also to remind you that it also can be lost, especially at the end of life, where we see the very essence of human life being devalued in ways that frankly are quite distressing and overwhelming and heartbreaking. 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:39.200 But the God, God's word is a good reminder of where our true value and worth really lie. 00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:43.200 And so last night we dug in deep on this question of who is a person. 00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:51.760 This morning we're going to dive in a little bit deeper into Psalm 8 to see what God says about us, but more importantly, what he says about himself. 00:01:51.760 --> 00:02:09.759 That's our key point this morning, especially in Psalm 8, is the majesty and the glory of God, not only seen in his majestic reign and rule, but also his creation of humanity, and then also the jobs and roles he gives us, the responsibilities we have as his image bearers. 00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:22.560 I'll say that it's also deeply encouraging one to join you all, especially this year, because it's just, I'll be honest, it's such an encouraging thing to see a congregation celebrating 175 years of gospel service in this community. 00:02:22.560 --> 00:02:35.360 That's incredible, friends, to see the faithful brothers and sisters and saints who have come before you and to you be sitting here at this place at this time that God's called you to this work in this community, and He's given us all we need. 00:02:35.360 --> 00:02:39.840 His word is more than sufficient to navigate the challenges of the day. 00:02:39.840 --> 00:02:53.439 And so to be reminded of that and just to be able to celebrate 175 years of gospel service, that's a testament to God's kindness to you all as a church body, but also the call on this church and this community at this time. 00:02:53.439 --> 00:02:59.439 As I've said, our theme this weekend has been talking about questions and the debates over human dignity. 00:02:59.439 --> 00:03:06.719 We talked about this kind of developmental idea of the human person, which I argued is directly contrary to a biblical vision. 00:03:06.719 --> 00:03:10.000 You don't gain it at some point, and you also don't lose it at some point. 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:14.400 It's something intricate to who you are, more importantly, of who God says you are. 00:03:14.400 --> 00:03:17.039 That's where our identity is fixed. 00:03:17.039 --> 00:03:31.919 What's interesting when we get into Psalm 8 is I said this is a classic text that informs many, uh, often within the Christian church, about how we have long thought about what it means to be human and specifically God's call on our lives as his creatures. 00:03:31.919 --> 00:03:43.439 It's one of those psalms that's easy for us often to memorize certain aspects of, but I think our familiarity with it at times obscures the point of really what this psalm is really meant to be. 00:03:43.439 --> 00:03:54.159 But regardless of how familiar we are, whether we're brand new to church, we're kind of exploring these ideas, maybe we're here because a friend brought us, or maybe we're here and we've long been here. 00:03:54.159 --> 00:03:57.439 We were born and bred in the church, and we know the text inside and out. 00:03:57.439 --> 00:04:06.000 I promise you this morning, friends, God has something for you, a word for you, a reminder, or if not, good news for you this morning. 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:17.279 So I our goal this morning is to slow down a little bit and to think deeply about the picture that Psalm 8 paints for us of the majesty of God and what it means to be human. 00:04:17.279 --> 00:04:21.759 As I told you, Psalm 8 is one of the classic psalms within the Christian tradition. 00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:29.839 Specifically, it's one of King David's Psalms, and it's long been considered a song of praise, more specifically, of creation praise. 00:04:29.839 --> 00:04:31.519 We're gonna see that in the text. 00:04:31.519 --> 00:04:37.920 It's actually reminding us, calling us back to even the Genesis creation account of Genesis 1 and 2. 00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:42.639 But in a little twist, we often go to this text to say, okay, what does it mean to be human? 00:04:42.639 --> 00:04:59.360 But friends, I want to put forth to you that this text actually answers that yes, but the central message of this psalm is not so much about human dignity per se, but it's centered on God's majestic glory and his power that is manifested throughout all of creation. 00:04:59.360 --> 00:05:19.920 David will remind us in a day where we're often tempted, back then and today, friends, to look around and to compare ourselves to other parts of creation, and maybe even to other people at times, even in this room and our family, our co-workers, those in our community, to say, well, they have this and they have this, and I'm not as valuable, I'm not as useful. 00:05:19.920 --> 00:05:25.199 We look around to determine, posit the differences between us and the rest of creation. 00:05:25.199 --> 00:05:29.839 God's word, specifically Psalm 8, is trying to reorient our gaze. 00:05:29.839 --> 00:05:41.360 It's not about looking around, it's actually about looking up to see God and his majestic glory and who he is as he's revealed himself in Scripture. 00:05:41.360 --> 00:05:46.879 Not to look out to the world to understand our dignity, value, and worth, but to simply look up. 00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:58.000 It is so common for us to look around at what God has made and identify the differences between an animal and a human being and say, well, that must be what it means to be human. 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:04.560 That may be true in part, but this text is actually calling us to do something different, which is to look up. 00:06:04.560 --> 00:06:29.439 This psalm redirects our attention upward to understand our value and our dignity is not something dependent upon how we relate to others or the value that others see in us, but actually the value that God has said about us, that we are loved, and that is where our value comes from, as one theologian once said, God doesn't love you, friend, because you're so valuable. 00:06:29.439 --> 00:06:34.399 You're valuable because God loves you. 00:06:34.399 --> 00:06:40.879 That is the central truth that we see here in Psalm 8, but we really see throughout the breadth of Scripture. 00:06:40.879 --> 00:06:49.600 As the theologian John Calvin once noted, when we have a greater understanding of God, we will also have a greater understanding of ourselves. 00:06:49.600 --> 00:06:50.399 Why? 00:06:50.399 --> 00:06:53.519 Scripture tells us we're made in the image of God. 00:06:53.519 --> 00:06:54.560 Look up. 00:06:54.560 --> 00:07:01.199 The greater understanding we have of God, the greater understanding we will have of our own value, dignity, and worth. 00:07:01.199 --> 00:07:03.759 But friends, the vice versa is true as well. 00:07:03.759 --> 00:07:21.439 The greater understanding we have of our true selves, not what we determine, not what we fix, not what we think about, what we think about ourselves or what other people think about us, but what is our true identity found in Christ, we will actually have a greater appreciation and understanding of God Himself as well. 00:07:21.439 --> 00:07:25.439 Because He is the creator, we are the creature. 00:07:25.439 --> 00:07:33.600 We cannot truly understand our value and ourselves as human beings without a corresponding knowledge of God. 00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:36.800 And that brings us to our text here in Psalm 8. 00:07:36.800 --> 00:07:40.480 So if you have a copy of God's word, I encourage you to open it to Psalm 8. 00:07:40.480 --> 00:07:50.800 And I'm going to read God's word for us and to sit under the authority of God's word as we talk about this question of not only God's glory, but also what it means to be human. 00:07:50.800 --> 00:08:01.439 The psalmist writes, David writes in 8:1, O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. 00:08:01.439 --> 00:08:06.000 You have set your glory above the heavens. 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:17.920 Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes to still the enemy and the avenger. 00:08:17.920 --> 00:08:27.040 When I look at your heavens and the work of your fingers, the moon's moon and the star which you have set in place. 00:08:27.040 --> 00:08:32.000 What is man that you are mindful of him? 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:36.080 And the son of man that you care for him. 00:08:36.080 --> 00:08:44.240 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 00:08:44.240 --> 00:08:47.600 You have given him dominion over the work of your hands. 00:08:47.600 --> 00:09:00.639 You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, all the beasts of the field, the birds of the heaven, the fish of the sea, and whatever passes along the paths of the sea. 00:09:00.639 --> 00:09:09.039 Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. 00:09:09.039 --> 00:09:10.799 Let us pray. 00:09:10.799 --> 00:09:13.360 Father God, I thank you for this morning. 00:09:13.360 --> 00:09:14.879 I thank you for this church. 00:09:14.879 --> 00:09:24.240 I thank you for the gospel outreach and out gospel post here at Millington Baptist Church and for the faithful service over these last 175 years. 00:09:24.240 --> 00:09:35.200 And God, I pray that you would continue to grow this church, deepen us all as members of the Universal Church and our understanding of who you are and what you've done for us through the person work of Christ. 00:09:35.200 --> 00:09:42.559 I pray this morning that you would help us to see you in Scripture, that you would give us eyes to see what you are doing. 00:09:42.559 --> 00:09:51.120 Father, that you would give us ears to hear what you are saying, minds that can comprehend the majesty and the glory of who you are. 00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:55.440 But all of these things are worthless if we don't have a heart that loves you. 00:09:55.440 --> 00:10:05.840 God, I pray that you would instill and cultivate a heart, a posture of seeking to love you into seeking to love our neighbors as ourselves. 00:10:05.840 --> 00:10:11.120 God, that you would fill us with your spirit, remind us of the good work that Christ has done. 00:10:11.120 --> 00:10:18.320 Father, how you've transferred us from the domain and kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of your beloved Son and whom you love. 00:10:18.320 --> 00:10:26.480 And that Jesus, we know that you are sitting at the right hand of the Father, that you are praying for us even as we pray to the Father. 00:10:26.480 --> 00:10:35.600 And I pray that you would also remind us that the Spirit, the third member of the Trinity, fully God, if we are in Christ, dwells in us. 00:10:35.600 --> 00:10:37.759 That you are here, Spirit. 00:10:37.759 --> 00:10:43.440 And I pray that you would speak to us, remind us of Christ, and for the glory and majesty and honor of the Father. 00:10:43.440 --> 00:10:46.159 Remind us of who you are and what you've done for us. 00:10:46.159 --> 00:10:49.279 And we pray that you would help us to grow in likeness of Christ in every way. 00:10:49.279 --> 00:10:50.159 We pray in his name. 00:10:50.159 --> 00:10:51.279 Amen. 00:10:51.279 --> 00:11:18.559 Friends, no matter where we turn today, we're seeing immense challenges to human dignity, as many today seek to redefine our identity in ways that are contrary to what God shows us about who we really are, and specifically what we see about what's true of us in the scripture, whether we doubt it or not, believe it or not, these things are true of us because God is our creator and it has spoken these things. 00:11:18.559 --> 00:11:34.320 From questions from the very beginning of life and the horrors of abortion to questions of reproductive technologies, how to best care for the sick among us, those facing various disabilities, even how to navigate the difficult and heart-wrenching end-of-life decisions. 00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:40.000 Friends, we don't like to think about death, but it is coming for all of us. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:49.200 But also as Christians, we live in light of the fact that Jesus has defeated the great enemy, that death no longer has things. 00:11:49.200 --> 00:11:51.919 It has already been beaten. 00:11:51.919 --> 00:12:09.519 But it seems from now that we're talking about the beginning of life to the very end of life and basically everything in between, we cannot get past the question of what does it mean to be human that is front and center in our culture today and ought to be front and center in the church as well. 00:12:09.519 --> 00:12:15.440 But we have a different orientation, a different understanding of human dignity. 00:12:15.440 --> 00:12:19.840 It's not something that is self-defined, it's not something that's gained or lost over time. 00:12:19.840 --> 00:12:24.480 What God says is true about us flows from who He is. 00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:30.080 That's the whole point of this passage, to remind us of the glory and the majesty of God. 00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:51.919 This question of what does it mean to be human informs and forms so many of the contemporary debates, from ethical debates and moral debates, social debates, political debates, where our dignity as human beings is often tied to what we do, what we contribute, and how other people view us and see us, rather than what God says is true about us. 00:12:51.919 --> 00:12:58.399 That can't be lost, it can't be gained, it just is because of how God has made us. 00:12:58.399 --> 00:13:09.679 Psalm 8 reminds us that our true dignity and value is found in relation to God, not in something we define or create for ourselves. 00:13:09.679 --> 00:13:14.000 We live in a society that says you have to justify your existence. 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:17.200 Friends, it's already been justified. 00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:18.799 It's done. 00:13:18.799 --> 00:13:20.639 We live in light of those truths. 00:13:20.639 --> 00:13:28.080 We live in light of who God is, what he has said, and what he has done for us, and that is where our true value and dignity comes from. 00:13:28.080 --> 00:13:30.480 You don't have to justify your value. 00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:32.879 God has already declared it. 00:13:32.879 --> 00:13:39.840 And that's what we see here in Psalm 8 that has a distinct pattern and a distinct flow that I want us to unpack this morning. 00:13:39.840 --> 00:13:42.960 You see three parts is listed in today's outline. 00:13:42.960 --> 00:13:45.679 And I was when I was kind of working through it this week. 00:13:45.679 --> 00:13:47.919 I originally had very different points here. 00:13:47.919 --> 00:13:51.120 They were all the same points, but I had the language mixed up a little bit. 00:13:51.120 --> 00:13:58.320 And the more I steeped in Psalm 8, look, friends, I've studied, I've known this passage, I've taught this passage, and I was just hit fresh this week. 00:13:58.320 --> 00:13:59.679 It's all about God. 00:13:59.679 --> 00:14:02.399 It's always been about God from the very beginning to the very end. 00:14:02.399 --> 00:14:08.399 And so I reordered the entirety of the points and reworded them to start with God's majesty as our creator. 00:14:08.399 --> 00:14:09.919 That's the point of the passage. 00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:13.200 We see that in verses 1 and 2, but also in verse 9. 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:14.559 Remember, it's kind of a sandwich. 00:14:14.559 --> 00:14:18.000 It's all about his majesty and glory from the beginning to the end. 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:22.639 In verses 3 through 5, we see God's creation of humanity. 00:14:22.639 --> 00:14:27.519 Remember fronting the fact of God, God's majesty, God's creation. 00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:32.559 And then lastly, in verses 6 through 8, we see God's role for humanity. 00:14:32.559 --> 00:14:40.080 He has called us to do something, not to earn our identity, not to earn our favor, and definitely not to earn our salvation. 00:14:40.080 --> 00:14:48.720 But if we were in Christ, Ephesians 2.10, if we're in Christ, there are works that have been created beforehand that we ought to live into. 00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:51.600 But it's for by grace that you've been saved through faith. 00:14:51.600 --> 00:14:54.480 This is not of your own doing, so that no one may boast. 00:14:54.480 --> 00:15:00.159 But we are, verse 10, Christ's workmanship created to do good works. 00:15:00.159 --> 00:15:03.440 So let's dive into verses 1, 2, and also 9. 00:15:03.440 --> 00:15:04.639 We'll come back to this. 00:15:04.639 --> 00:15:07.600 God's majesty as our creator. 00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:13.200 At the both the beginning and the end of this Psalm, we see the same line repeated. 00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:17.360 You don't have to be a Bible scholar to know when something is repeated, it's valuable. 00:15:17.360 --> 00:15:18.639 You need to hold on to it. 00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:23.440 When the Word of God says something over and over again, we better believe it because it is true. 00:15:23.440 --> 00:15:24.799 It's being emphasized. 00:15:24.799 --> 00:15:32.879 Verses run and two read this: O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. 00:15:32.879 --> 00:15:36.080 You have set your glory above the heavens. 00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:45.600 Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. 00:15:45.600 --> 00:15:53.679 This psalm begins with an exclamation of praise and a reminder, this song of praise and of worship to God. 00:15:53.679 --> 00:16:07.440 Many scholars actually think that Psalm 8 was a worship song, that we would, that early church would have sang these things, that the Jewish people would have sang this, and it's actually something we should probably put to music at some point, just to be reminded of God's word and what he says. 00:16:07.440 --> 00:16:09.279 But it starts with praise. 00:16:09.279 --> 00:16:22.159 David here is proclaiming the majesty of God and drawing our gaze upward to the heavens, away from the here and now, upward to the heaven to behold who God is and what he has done for us. 00:16:22.159 --> 00:16:24.960 It begins with an acknowledgement, friends. 00:16:24.960 --> 00:16:34.000 An acknowledgement of God as our eternal creator, through whom all things come to being, including each of us as image-bearers. 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:35.600 It begins with God. 00:16:35.600 --> 00:16:45.360 Even as we start to unpack and think through this question of what does it mean to be human, we must, as David is reminding us here, start and end with God. 00:16:45.360 --> 00:17:04.720 Within a Christian framework or a worldview for understanding the nature of who God is, what he says about us as human beings, and how we navigate the world around us, long within the Christian tradition, we've recognized a fundamental distinction, a distinction between God as our creator and we as his creatures. 00:17:04.720 --> 00:17:08.799 There's a fundamental creator-creature distinction. 00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:10.480 Friends, we are like God. 00:17:10.480 --> 00:17:12.000 We see that in Genesis 1 and 2. 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:15.599 We're like God, we're created in the image of God, but we're not God. 00:17:15.599 --> 00:17:17.839 There's a fundamental difference. 00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:20.079 He is God, we are his creatures. 00:17:20.079 --> 00:17:22.799 He is infinite, we are finite. 00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:35.920 God is all-knowing, and we very often struggle with knowing and understanding and comprehending and understanding what God is doing, especially when we face suffering, trials, and tribulations and persecution. 00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:38.000 We don't know what's going on, but God does. 00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:40.640 There's a fundamental difference. 00:17:40.640 --> 00:17:43.200 God did not make the world out of himself. 00:17:43.200 --> 00:17:51.279 God is the eternal God, the creator God, the triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit from all eternity. 00:17:51.279 --> 00:17:59.440 Who chose out of the abundance of his love to make everything, including you. 00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:02.960 God, that's the God we serve. 00:18:02.960 --> 00:18:04.960 That's the majestic nature of him. 00:18:04.960 --> 00:18:12.160 Here's a truth, friends, that's hard to hear at first, but I'll tell you, it's deeply, deeply freeing once you embrace it. 00:18:12.160 --> 00:18:14.240 God doesn't need you. 00:18:14.240 --> 00:18:16.480 God is all-powerful. 00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:17.440 You are not. 00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:18.319 He is infinite. 00:18:18.319 --> 00:18:19.359 You are finite. 00:18:19.359 --> 00:18:25.519 God doesn't need us, but he chose to make us at an abundance of his love. 00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:26.720 He is our creator. 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:28.319 We are his creatures. 00:18:28.319 --> 00:18:39.519 It's vital for us to maintain this distinction, to continue to champion, especially as we navigate key issues of human dignity in the public square, but not just out there, friends. 00:18:39.519 --> 00:18:53.279 Also in here, in our own families, when we're navigating key issues of bioethics and human dignity, to recognize and to remember there's a clear distinction between God as the creator and we as his creature. 00:18:53.279 --> 00:18:59.920 And who are we, that Isaiah reminds us, who are we to call out to the potter, why have you made me this way? 00:18:59.920 --> 00:19:02.720 He is the creator, we are the creature. 00:19:02.720 --> 00:19:05.599 He is the potter, we are the clay. 00:19:05.599 --> 00:19:09.279 You can't comprehend God in his fullness. 00:19:09.279 --> 00:19:13.359 But David's trying to lift your gaze up to begin to comprehend him. 00:19:13.359 --> 00:19:15.519 How majestic he is. 00:19:15.519 --> 00:19:24.319 There is a clear distinction between God as our creator, we as his creature, that's often blurred or to be honest with you, completely ignored in contemporary society. 00:19:24.319 --> 00:19:28.000 And sometimes, unfortunately, in the church as well. 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:36.720 In a world that champions autonomy, just a fancy way to say it's about me, myself, and I, it's my body, it's my choice, it's my truth, it's my reality, it's about me. 00:19:36.720 --> 00:19:38.000 I'm autonomous. 00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:43.599 Auto namos literally means self-law, self-rule, self-mastery. 00:19:43.599 --> 00:19:50.720 In an age of autonomy and hyper-individuality, Christians must remember you are an individual. 00:19:50.720 --> 00:19:53.359 God knows you intimately. 00:19:53.359 --> 00:19:56.559 Friend, he knows you better than you know yourself. 00:19:56.559 --> 00:19:58.640 We'll get to that in a little bit. 00:19:58.640 --> 00:20:05.039 We are known by God, we are loved by God, but we are not autonomous beings. 00:20:05.039 --> 00:20:06.720 We never were. 00:20:06.720 --> 00:20:08.240 You were created. 00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:13.920 Meaning you are utterly and completely and wholly dependent upon another. 00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:26.559 Not just your mother's womb, not just others in your family when you grow old, but you are utterly dependent, completely and totally dependent on God, and you are interdependent on each other. 00:20:26.559 --> 00:20:27.680 We need each other. 00:20:27.680 --> 00:20:30.640 It's actually the good news of gathering as the church body. 00:20:30.640 --> 00:20:35.039 We remind ourselves ultimately of our dependence upon God, but also we need one another. 00:20:35.039 --> 00:20:36.240 You need to be here. 00:20:36.240 --> 00:20:37.519 I need you, you need me. 00:20:37.519 --> 00:20:38.960 We need each other. 00:20:38.960 --> 00:20:45.039 That is contrary to often a cultural vision of what it means to be human. 00:20:45.039 --> 00:20:49.759 Everything we have and everything that we are is given to us by God Himself. 00:20:49.759 --> 00:21:00.000 And nothing, this is also one of those hard truths that's also freeing, nothing happens outside of his power and sovereignty and love as our creator, our sustainer, and our redeemer. 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:02.160 We as humans are set apart. 00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:08.240 Yes, we are unique in creation, but we are utterly and completely dependent upon God for all things. 00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:10.240 You get that in verse 1 and 2. 00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:21.680 But in verse 2, we're also reminded of God's power and his authority over all things, as well as his, he is the standard of goodness and of true justice. 00:21:21.680 --> 00:21:31.920 When we want to go about justice in society, we have to look for a biblical vision of justice rooted in God Himself and what he says about himself, what he's revealed about himself. 00:21:31.920 --> 00:21:35.519 And in verse 2, we see some of that to start to come out. 00:21:35.519 --> 00:21:40.720 Again, that's not the point of the passage per se, but it is lifting our gaze up to God. 00:21:40.720 --> 00:21:50.319 First, we see in verse 2 how God routinely uses the weak and the vulnerable and the helpless to show strength, his strength, to a watching world. 00:21:50.319 --> 00:22:02.480 He takes the weakest, he takes the helpless, he uses them for his own glory, showing off, showing who he is, reminding the world of His power and his majesty and his glory. 00:22:02.480 --> 00:22:05.759 This is directly contrary to what so much of the world sees. 00:22:05.759 --> 00:22:13.680 That your value, your dignity, and your worth is rooted in the things you do rather than the God you serve. 00:22:13.680 --> 00:22:16.000 It's always about me and what I do. 00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:25.359 It's about strength, how we this counter-cultural message about strength and power is not about what we do, but what God has already done and what he is doing. 00:22:25.359 --> 00:22:42.880 God in his great power and strength could have used anyone and could have done anything, but he chooses out of love to use the weak and the helpless, the babies and infants, to shame the world of the strong and to manifest his immense power. 00:22:42.880 --> 00:22:48.559 But a second part of this, he also uses the most vulnerable to bring about justice. 00:22:48.559 --> 00:22:50.000 See in the text here. 00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:53.359 To still the enemy and the avenger. 00:22:53.359 --> 00:22:55.200 There is a great enemy, friends. 00:22:55.200 --> 00:22:58.880 There are it, there are grave injustices in our world. 00:22:58.880 --> 00:23:04.720 But we as Christians, we do go about the pursuit of justice only because of who God is and what he's done. 00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:06.640 He is the author of justice. 00:23:06.640 --> 00:23:08.000 He is the true God. 00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:09.759 It flows from who he is. 00:23:09.759 --> 00:23:14.000 Our God is a God of justice and it's rooted in who he is and his character. 00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:24.960 He establishes his strength and the pursuit of justice for his people and reminds them, kind of looking forward, the church has long used this text and seen in this text. 00:23:24.960 --> 00:23:29.519 It looks forward because remember, friends, this entire book is about Jesus. 00:23:29.519 --> 00:23:33.039 Don't take my word for it, take Jesus' Luke 24, 27. 00:23:33.039 --> 00:23:39.039 He explained to them on the road of Emmaus all of Scripture, the law and the prophets concerning himself. 00:23:39.039 --> 00:23:44.079 We don't have to read Jesus into the text because he's already here. 00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:48.240 He is the Logos, the Word of God from the very beginning, John 1. 00:23:48.240 --> 00:23:54.400 But what's interesting here, distill the enemy and the Avenger, the great enemy is death. 00:23:54.400 --> 00:23:57.119 I've got good news for you, Christian. 00:23:57.119 --> 00:23:59.519 Death has already been defeated. 00:23:59.519 --> 00:24:00.960 It's over, it's finished. 00:24:00.960 --> 00:24:02.079 Say Phonee. 00:24:02.079 --> 00:24:03.200 Go read Revelation. 00:24:03.200 --> 00:24:08.559 Revelation isn't about getting our frelt boards out and trying to decide exactly what's happening when Jesus is coming back. 00:24:08.559 --> 00:24:10.319 Those are fun conversations to have. 00:24:10.319 --> 00:24:15.519 But we don't need that because the apocalyptic literature, revelation itself, is actually to give us hope. 00:24:15.519 --> 00:24:24.319 In the midst of the trials, the suffering, the persecution, when we feel overwhelmed and crushed by the burden of life, to be reminded that death has already been defeated. 00:24:24.319 --> 00:24:32.000 That we will gather around the throne saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is yet to come. 00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:33.599 Death has been defeated. 00:24:33.599 --> 00:24:35.200 Death is dead in its grave. 00:24:35.200 --> 00:24:38.960 That's what we get to celebrate, by the way, here in a few weeks in Easter. 00:24:38.960 --> 00:24:40.799 That Christ is risen. 00:24:40.799 --> 00:24:42.480 He is risen indeed. 00:24:42.480 --> 00:24:46.400 When he rose to new life, he put death in its grave forever. 00:24:46.400 --> 00:24:50.240 And we live in between the times because Jesus is coming back, friends. 00:24:50.240 --> 00:24:57.200 When we navigate the challenges of human dignity, especially in the public square today, we should be some of the most hopeful people around. 00:24:57.200 --> 00:24:57.920 Why? 00:24:57.920 --> 00:25:00.799 Because if we have a reason for the hope that's within us. 00:25:00.799 --> 00:25:02.640 So let's make a defense for it. 00:25:02.640 --> 00:25:05.599 You can't make a defense in what Peter tells us in 1 Peter. 00:25:05.599 --> 00:25:07.599 You can't make a defense for something you don't have. 00:25:07.599 --> 00:25:10.079 If you have no hope, how are you going to defend it? 00:25:10.079 --> 00:25:12.559 And why would people say, why are you so hopeful? 00:25:12.559 --> 00:25:15.039 They can't ask it if they don't see it. 00:25:15.039 --> 00:25:20.720 Friends, we have to have hope because we know hope has a name. 00:25:20.720 --> 00:25:24.000 His name is Jesus, and he is beaten death. 00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:24.720 It's done. 00:25:24.720 --> 00:25:26.640 Sephine, it's over. 00:25:26.640 --> 00:25:28.640 So let's live in light of that. 00:25:28.640 --> 00:25:37.359 We should be marked as some of the most hopeful people ever because we have the greatest hope of the risen Lord Jesus Christ. 00:25:37.359 --> 00:25:43.359 No one and nothing can stand against our God, not even the great enemy of sin and death. 00:25:43.359 --> 00:25:53.119 But here we see verses 1 and 2, especially verse 1, is actually repeated again in verse 9 because it's showing there's a high, there's a structure to this. 00:25:53.119 --> 00:25:56.240 There's a purposeful psalm of praise going on here. 00:25:56.240 --> 00:26:00.160 Starting with the majesty and glory of God, ending with the majesty and glory of God. 00:26:00.160 --> 00:26:04.880 But sandwiched in between us are some really beautiful truths about what it means to be human. 00:26:04.880 --> 00:26:08.319 Here, God's creation of humanity, verses 3 through 5. 00:26:08.319 --> 00:26:12.880 In verses 3 through 5, we see more about the creation of man and woman. 00:26:12.880 --> 00:26:14.480 Read the text with me. 00:26:14.480 --> 00:26:22.960 When I looked at the heavens, I looked at your heavens, the work of your fingers, you see the your, it's always about going back to God, speaking to God. 00:26:22.960 --> 00:26:36.960 When I looked at your heavens, and when I looked at the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you're mindful of him, and the Son of Man that you care for him? 00:26:36.960 --> 00:26:42.960 You have created him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 00:26:42.960 --> 00:26:49.119 This is one of the most well-known sections of this passage in Psalm 8, but I want you not to miss the backdrop. 00:26:49.119 --> 00:26:50.880 What did we just see? 00:26:50.880 --> 00:26:54.480 It's about the glory and majesty of God and what he's done. 00:26:54.480 --> 00:26:57.599 And then you get the picture of who we are. 00:26:57.599 --> 00:27:04.000 He shifts from looking at all that God has made and starts to shift to say, Me? 00:27:04.000 --> 00:27:06.079 Really? 00:27:06.079 --> 00:27:12.480 Like of all the things you've done, the great victory you've accomplished, you care about me? 00:27:12.480 --> 00:27:13.920 You know me? 00:27:13.920 --> 00:27:16.079 I seem so insignificant. 00:27:16.079 --> 00:27:26.960 God's majesty here is so profound that the heavens and the moon and the stars, basically, we don't fully understand how all that works, are moved by his fingers. 00:27:26.960 --> 00:27:28.319 He's so big. 00:27:28.319 --> 00:27:31.599 He doesn't actually have fingers other than the incarnation of Christ. 00:27:31.599 --> 00:27:36.079 But the idea, the picture here is that it's so insignificant, it's so small for him. 00:27:36.079 --> 00:27:44.799 But not as if he just so majestic and glorious, it's also the fact of what we see here that God knows us and loves us. 00:27:44.799 --> 00:27:49.039 He knows not just us, plural, but you specifically. 00:27:49.039 --> 00:27:51.839 He knows you, he cares for you. 00:27:51.839 --> 00:28:00.079 It always reminds me of this kind of fact of this kind of the majesty and glory of God and how small we often are when I go to the beach. 00:28:00.079 --> 00:28:02.640 So later this week we're going to Orange Beach in Alabama. 00:28:02.640 --> 00:28:03.599 We're taking our RV. 00:28:03.599 --> 00:28:04.559 Yes, we're those people. 00:28:04.559 --> 00:28:05.680 And we have a big RV. 00:28:05.680 --> 00:28:07.279 I'm going to take my boys, Hollis and Porter. 00:28:07.279 --> 00:28:11.039 Hollis is nine, Porter 7, my wife of almost 13 years, Dory. 00:28:11.039 --> 00:28:14.720 We're all four gonna get in our truck because I'm a Kentuckian, you have to have a truck. 00:28:14.720 --> 00:28:18.559 We're gonna have our truck and we're gonna go to Orange Beach, Alabama. 00:28:18.559 --> 00:28:20.960 When we get there, I can guarantee you what's gonna happen. 00:28:20.960 --> 00:28:22.000 We're gonna have lots of fun. 00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:24.240 There's probably gonna be a lot of craziness on the way down there. 00:28:24.240 --> 00:28:28.480 I have two boys under 10, remember, and a like six, seven-hour car ride, which will be fun. 00:28:28.480 --> 00:28:30.240 But nevertheless, we're gonna get there. 00:28:30.240 --> 00:28:31.680 And then we're gonna go out to the beach. 00:28:31.680 --> 00:28:32.880 Anybody like the beach? 00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:34.079 I love the beach. 00:28:34.079 --> 00:28:38.559 It's fascinating to me what happens at the beginning at sunrise and sunset, though. 00:28:38.559 --> 00:28:41.119 Everybody flocks to the beach, right? 00:28:41.119 --> 00:28:42.240 And it's interesting. 00:28:42.240 --> 00:28:48.400 We flock to the beach, and about 90% of us, I saw in the first service, some people going like this to their spouse, like, oh, this is you. 00:28:48.400 --> 00:28:50.640 What ends up happening is we take, what do we do? 00:28:50.640 --> 00:28:54.640 We pull out our phones and we start videoing the sunset and the sunrise. 00:28:54.640 --> 00:28:58.400 Not looking at the sunrise and sunset, by the way, but looking at it on our phone. 00:28:58.400 --> 00:28:59.279 It's kind of weird. 00:28:59.279 --> 00:29:01.440 We do that with fireworks too, and I don't totally understand it. 00:29:01.440 --> 00:29:02.960 You're never gonna re-watch those videos. 00:29:02.960 --> 00:29:04.000 I don't know why we do that. 00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:06.240 But anyway, another story for another day. 00:29:06.240 --> 00:29:17.519 But we behold, there's something about going to the beach, especially when I can just stand there for a minute and just behold the glory and just see the beauty of creation. 00:29:17.519 --> 00:29:19.279 Guess what it does, friends? 00:29:19.279 --> 00:29:26.480 It one lifts my gaze up, but two, there's also this corresponding feeling of how small I really am. 00:29:26.480 --> 00:29:33.759 This happens maybe not for you at the beach, maybe at the mountains, maybe at the canyon, maybe it's just looking at your child one day. 00:29:33.759 --> 00:29:38.559 I remember especially with Hollis and Porter, it'll just be kind of daddy and Porter, and I'll look into his. 00:29:38.559 --> 00:29:43.519 I'm just I'm just blown away that God has made him and given him to me. 00:29:43.519 --> 00:29:50.079 But there's something about beholding these glorious sights, the beauty of creation, that lift our gaze up, right? 00:29:50.079 --> 00:29:54.240 This also will happen later today when I get on the plane. 00:29:54.240 --> 00:30:06.079 I'll be heading home back to Louisville, and when we get above about 30,000 feet, and you kind of look down, especially it's not a super cloudy day, I get to see just how seemingly insignificant I really am in the grand scheme of things. 00:30:06.079 --> 00:30:16.160 That is true in one part, but something I have to mention here, when we think about this, it doesn't just help us to see the glory and the majesty of God, how big he really is. 00:30:16.160 --> 00:30:20.079 But here's the really amazing countercultural, kind of ironic truth. 00:30:20.079 --> 00:30:26.799 God still knows you and cares for you individually. 00:30:26.799 --> 00:30:34.240 He is the creator God, the infinite, majestic creator of the universe, and he knows you and loves you. 00:30:34.240 --> 00:30:37.599 He knows every single hair on your head or the lack thereof. 00:30:37.599 --> 00:30:42.960 He also knows every single gray hair in my, especially right here and right here, my boys like to point it out. 00:30:42.960 --> 00:30:46.319 He knows you better than you know yourself, friend. 00:30:46.319 --> 00:30:50.160 And he's still the creator, majestic God of the universe. 00:30:50.160 --> 00:30:57.279 That's the beautiful, ironic truth, a little bit within the Christian belief and understanding of who God is and what he's done for us. 00:30:57.279 --> 00:31:05.680 David here is pointing out in the light of the vastness and the greatness of creation that it's natural to go, me? 00:31:05.680 --> 00:31:07.920 Why are you mindful of me? 00:31:07.920 --> 00:31:09.440 Why does God care for us? 00:31:09.440 --> 00:31:10.640 Why does he know us? 00:31:10.640 --> 00:31:14.960 Why would God, who needs nothing, create us? 00:31:14.960 --> 00:31:16.720 Why is he mindful of us? 00:31:16.720 --> 00:31:24.720 God created all things, eternally existed as a triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, crafted all things, upholds the universe. 00:31:24.720 --> 00:31:25.920 Me? 00:31:25.920 --> 00:31:27.680 You care about me? 00:31:27.680 --> 00:31:28.799 You know me? 00:31:28.799 --> 00:31:32.559 This is a central truth of the Christian tradition. 00:31:32.559 --> 00:31:41.599 Your value, your dignity, and your worth is not rooted in the things you do, how impressive you are or not, what other people see about you. 00:31:41.599 --> 00:31:47.200 Your value, your dignity and worth flows from who God is and what he says about you. 00:31:47.200 --> 00:31:51.920 Because, friends, despite what we were told when I was growing up, I'm not that special. 00:31:51.920 --> 00:31:53.599 You're not that unique. 00:31:53.599 --> 00:31:56.480 You're not that valuable on your own. 00:31:56.480 --> 00:32:04.640 It's your value flows from the fact it's not because you're so valuable, that's why God loves you, as the theologian tells us. 00:32:04.640 --> 00:32:08.799 It's actually that you're loved, and that's where your value comes from. 00:32:08.799 --> 00:32:12.640 We see here that he's mindful of us, that he cares for us. 00:32:12.640 --> 00:32:21.200 The language here that David writes conveys God's love for us, that God loved us so much that he's mindful of us and cares for us. 00:32:21.200 --> 00:32:24.319 He knows, friend, I don't know what's going on in your life right now. 00:32:24.319 --> 00:32:26.960 I don't know what you're feeling, I don't know what the challenges you're facing. 00:32:26.960 --> 00:32:28.720 Maybe even on the way here this morning. 00:32:28.720 --> 00:32:32.240 Maybe you're not looking forward to tomorrow or the next day. 00:32:32.240 --> 00:32:37.680 You have a big doctor's appointment come up, you have a big job issue coming up, you have another thing. 00:32:37.680 --> 00:32:38.720 It's political season. 00:32:38.720 --> 00:32:41.200 We have all these things swirling around us. 00:32:41.200 --> 00:32:43.680 Friend, he sees you. 00:32:43.680 --> 00:32:46.640 That's part of being mindful and caring for you. 00:32:46.640 --> 00:32:48.400 He remembers you. 00:32:48.400 --> 00:32:51.200 He doesn't have to, but he chooses to. 00:32:51.200 --> 00:32:54.400 He knows you better than you know yourself. 00:32:54.400 --> 00:33:02.000 That's deeply freeing to know that you are not only fully known, but also fully loved, as the late Tim Keller once said. 00:33:02.000 --> 00:33:09.119 In the vastness of all that God has made, he takes time to know us and he takes time to reveal himself to us. 00:33:09.119 --> 00:33:23.359 No matter the failures that you've had this week, maybe last night, this morning, or the failures you will have this week, the brokenness, the challenges, the suffering, the pain, the heartache, whatever you are facing, let me tell you the good news of the gospel. 00:33:23.359 --> 00:33:28.720 Not only has death been defeated, but Jesus has sent the Spirit to be here with you. 00:33:28.720 --> 00:33:34.559 This is the beauty, the glory of the gospel message that Christ has sent the helper. 00:33:34.559 --> 00:33:40.720 If you are in Christ, Colossians 3, if you are in Christ, the Spirit of God dwells in you. 00:33:40.720 --> 00:33:42.160 You have not been abandoned. 00:33:42.160 --> 00:33:42.960 You need to know that. 00:33:42.960 --> 00:33:44.880 Some of us need to hear that viscerally right now. 00:33:44.880 --> 00:33:46.079 You are not alone. 00:33:46.079 --> 00:33:48.799 You have not been abandoned. 00:33:48.799 --> 00:33:57.599 Your God sees you and knows you and remembers you, and you are a created being that serves an uncreated creator. 00:33:57.599 --> 00:34:06.319 He has no beginning, he has no end, yet he still knows us, sees us, loves us, and has fashioned us a little lower than himself. 00:34:06.319 --> 00:34:07.279 Verse 5. 00:34:07.279 --> 00:34:21.440 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor, depending on the translation you have, and this is kind of a nerd fact, but it's kind of fun anyway, of the translation here, a little lower than the heavenly beings, the ESV says. 00:34:21.440 --> 00:34:23.679 Other translations say a little lower than God. 00:34:23.679 --> 00:34:29.519 There's actually a little bit of a debate on exactly what the word means, but I can tell you the point of it and what it actually means. 00:34:29.519 --> 00:34:31.119 It means you're not God. 00:34:31.119 --> 00:34:33.360 God is God, you are not. 00:34:33.360 --> 00:34:38.559 You are created lower than him, lower than the heavenly beings, lower than God. 00:34:38.559 --> 00:34:41.360 And that's actually deeply freeing. 00:34:41.360 --> 00:34:44.880 Genesis 1 and 2 tell us we're made like God, but we're not God. 00:34:44.880 --> 00:34:48.000 We're made in his image, but we are not God's ourselves. 00:34:48.000 --> 00:34:58.719 We are set apart in creation, and we have been given, note the text, you have been, we are crowned with glory and honor, meaning it's given to us. 00:34:58.719 --> 00:34:59.679 It's derivative. 00:34:59.679 --> 00:35:00.719