WEBVTT 00:00:24.091 --> 00:00:26.196 If you have a copy of God's Word, turn with me. 00:00:26.196 --> 00:00:28.121 Psalm chapter 8 this morning. 00:00:28.121 --> 00:00:32.219 We're continuing our journey this summer through various psalms. 00:00:32.219 --> 00:00:36.655 In the last three weeks we have been looking at psalms of lament. 00:00:36.655 --> 00:00:48.442 Thought we would change the pace a little bit this morning and look at this Psalm 8, which is a psalm of wonder and a psalm of praise. 00:00:48.442 --> 00:00:54.733 This is one of the most beloved and recognizable passages in the book of Psalms. 00:00:54.733 --> 00:00:58.322 I think you'll see what I mean as we read. 00:00:58.322 --> 00:00:59.403 Follow along with me. 00:00:59.403 --> 00:01:00.492 This is God's word. 00:01:01.534 --> 00:01:04.980 Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. 00:01:04.980 --> 00:01:07.933 You have set your glory above the heavens. 00:01:07.933 --> 00:01:11.412 Out of the mouths of babies and infants. 00:01:11.412 --> 00:01:17.391 You have established strength because of your foes to steal the enemy and the avenger. 00:01:17.391 --> 00:01:26.415 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? 00:01:26.415 --> 00:01:30.583 That you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him. 00:01:30.583 --> 00:01:37.342 Yet you have made him a little lower than the angels and crowned him with glory and honor. 00:01:37.342 --> 00:01:41.060 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands. 00:01:41.060 --> 00:01:54.456 You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen and also the beast of the field, the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. 00:01:54.456 --> 00:01:59.753 Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. 00:01:59.753 --> 00:02:02.480 Let's pray and ask for God's help this morning. 00:02:02.480 --> 00:02:10.703 Let's pray together, father, please come Anytime we open up the Scriptures. 00:02:10.703 --> 00:02:27.900 We need the Spirit to come and teach us and to correct and show us Jesus, make our hearts alive, and so that's what I'm asking that you would give us ears to hear and hearts to receive your word, this word that you have for us on this morning. 00:02:27.900 --> 00:02:29.771 Be with the one who preaches. 00:02:29.771 --> 00:02:37.844 Help me, give me boldness, but also great humility as I open up the Bible this morning. 00:02:37.844 --> 00:02:41.715 Please be near to us In Jesus' name. 00:02:41.715 --> 00:02:42.536 Amen. 00:02:43.777 --> 00:02:54.770 King David in Psalm 8, he's standing outside on a clear night and he is looking up at the moon and the stars. 00:02:54.770 --> 00:03:21.265 And as he studies this vast creation of God and as he studies the night sky, david is struck by a question that many of us have asked, or perhaps you're even asking this morning In this vast world, in this vast and magnificent universe, do I really matter? 00:03:21.265 --> 00:03:32.444 Maybe you have felt that same overwhelming smallness that David has felt in this psalm. 00:03:32.444 --> 00:03:54.350 Perhaps it hit you when you were scrolling through social media and you were comparing your life to everyone else's highlight reel around you else's highlight reel around you. 00:03:54.350 --> 00:04:00.764 Or maybe it hit you in the hospital waiting room or at a graveside when you were confronted with your own mortality and the fragility of life. 00:04:00.764 --> 00:04:02.011 That's when it often hits me. 00:04:02.070 --> 00:04:12.432 As a pastor, I'm in and around lots of suffering and it seems like weekly I come home to my wife, susie, and I just simply say life is so fragile. 00:04:12.432 --> 00:04:33.526 Maybe you have felt that smallness when you realized that your greatest achievement in life quickly fades from the memory and in a short no one remembers, nor do they really care. 00:04:33.526 --> 00:04:40.563 For example, who can remember the Super Bowl champions from two or three years ago? 00:04:40.563 --> 00:04:52.049 Maybe you can, but oftentimes even accomplishments that are watched and viewed by millions quickly fade and are forgotten. 00:04:52.049 --> 00:05:06.063 You might have felt that smallness when you're staring at a stack of bills and everyone around you seems to be doing just fine and completely has things figured out. 00:05:06.063 --> 00:05:16.085 Or maybe it comes when you are overwhelmed by parenting and the task ahead, and we could go on and on and on. 00:05:16.085 --> 00:05:22.235 One of the deepest cries of every human heart is do I matter? 00:05:24.378 --> 00:05:39.702 David answers that question in this psalm, and his answer will transform how we see ourselves, transform how we see our purpose and our place in God's world. 00:05:39.702 --> 00:05:47.303 In order for us to be transformed, we need to consider three things we see from this passage. 00:05:47.303 --> 00:05:56.714 Consider three things we see from this passage God's majesty, the first thing we need to consider. 00:05:56.714 --> 00:06:00.401 Secondly, our place in creation and then, lastly, consider our calling. 00:06:00.401 --> 00:06:08.860 So, consider God's majesty, consider our place in God's world, in creation, and lastly, consider our calling. 00:06:08.860 --> 00:06:10.483 Let's jump into that. 00:06:10.483 --> 00:06:14.616 Let's look at our first heading consider God's majesty. 00:06:14.616 --> 00:06:15.939 Look at verse one. 00:06:16.600 --> 00:06:29.274 Notice how, david you probably picked up on this when we were reading but he structures this Psalm with bookends that talk about the greatness of God oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth? 00:06:29.274 --> 00:06:33.616 And then he describes God's glory as being set above the heavens. 00:06:33.616 --> 00:06:44.262 And so every time you go out and you look up, you are seeing an intentional display of God's majesty and glory. 00:06:44.262 --> 00:06:52.350 Look at verse three glory. 00:06:52.350 --> 00:06:52.831 Look at verse three. 00:06:52.831 --> 00:06:54.154 When I look, the new international version says consider. 00:06:54.154 --> 00:07:00.676 So when I consider your heavens, the work look this is an amazing verse the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place. 00:07:00.676 --> 00:07:03.490 So think about the word let's just walk through this. 00:07:03.490 --> 00:07:05.293 Notice the word when. 00:07:06.495 --> 00:07:13.565 And so David is describing a specific moment when he slows down and he stops. 00:07:13.565 --> 00:07:22.680 And he doesn't just look up and glance at the sky above, he looks up and contemplates it. 00:07:22.680 --> 00:07:24.769 There's deep contemplation. 00:07:24.769 --> 00:07:32.162 Think about the word consider, gaze intently to examine carefully something. 00:07:32.162 --> 00:07:38.942 And so David isn't just looking up and going, oh well, that's great, that's beautiful. 00:07:38.942 --> 00:07:40.512 No, he stops. 00:07:40.512 --> 00:07:49.725 He is meditating on the vastness of God's world and the vastness of God's creation. 00:07:49.725 --> 00:07:52.976 And notice what captures him. 00:07:52.976 --> 00:07:58.000 You see it in the verse the work of God's fingers. 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:03.401 Think about the work and the precision work of fingers. 00:08:03.401 --> 00:08:09.481 Think about a skilled surgeon doing a very difficult surgery. 00:08:09.481 --> 00:08:22.681 Or think about an artist who uses their fingers and their hands to create very fine details in a painting or in a drawing or sketch of some sort. 00:08:22.681 --> 00:08:31.984 David looks up at the moon and the stars and he sees them as the delicate finger work of God. 00:08:33.471 --> 00:08:38.918 Verse 3 again, look at the end Set in place. 00:08:38.918 --> 00:08:46.955 Every star has been set in place with divine intention. 00:08:46.955 --> 00:08:55.173 Nothing is random, everything is deliberately positioned in God's world and in his universe. 00:08:55.173 --> 00:08:59.721 And that leads David to this profound question. 00:08:59.721 --> 00:09:00.524 Look at verse four. 00:09:00.524 --> 00:09:02.374 What is mankind? 00:09:02.374 --> 00:09:03.197 What is man? 00:09:03.197 --> 00:09:05.505 That you are mindful of him? 00:09:05.505 --> 00:09:06.610 Important to note. 00:09:06.610 --> 00:09:09.379 He's not asking if God cares. 00:09:09.379 --> 00:09:11.476 He knows God cares. 00:09:11.476 --> 00:09:12.559 That is assumed. 00:09:12.559 --> 00:09:36.423 But he is astounded in this moment and amazed in this moment at why the creator of this vast world would think about and consider and be mindful of fragile, small, mortal human beings like us. 00:09:36.423 --> 00:09:48.223 Think about this the nearest star to us is 4.2 light years away. 00:09:48.223 --> 00:09:51.138 Let me put that in perspective. 00:09:51.138 --> 00:10:07.423 If you were to get in your car, set the cruise at 75, whatever highway speed you go and you did not stop, it would take you 30 million years to get to the nearest star. 00:10:07.423 --> 00:10:15.930 Years to get to the nearest star. 00:10:15.930 --> 00:10:31.110 It's estimated that in our galaxy there is over a hundred billion stars and yet this God, who set each of those in place with his fingers, knows you by name and is mindful of you personally. 00:10:32.875 --> 00:10:34.701 I feel like stopping the service. 00:10:34.701 --> 00:10:48.076 Let's do the benediction, chris, come up and let's fall down on our face and let's worship, because that is amazing and it should stop us. 00:10:48.076 --> 00:10:53.598 Notice the progression God's greatness leads to contemplation. 00:10:53.598 --> 00:11:01.881 The contemplation you see it here leads to perspective, and that perspective leads to this fundamental question about our place in the world. 00:11:01.881 --> 00:11:04.197 David is not having a crisis of faith. 00:11:04.197 --> 00:11:06.639 He's having a moment of clarity. 00:11:06.639 --> 00:11:15.154 And in that moment of clarity it doesn't paralyze David and he doesn't go whoa pitiful me. 00:11:15.154 --> 00:11:20.965 It drives him up to God, not away from God. 00:11:23.572 --> 00:11:43.822 And so when you're lying awake at 2 am and you're worried about your children and you're worried about your health and you're worried about your finances and you're worried about your relationship status and you're worried about your future, consider this. 00:11:43.822 --> 00:11:52.223 Consider Psalm 8, that the one who put the stars in place is mindful of you. 00:11:52.223 --> 00:12:11.146 When you feel small, when you feel invisible and forgotten, in whatever context that is for you, walk outside on a clear night and look up If there are too many lights around you. 00:12:11.146 --> 00:12:16.942 Drive outside of Birmingham on a clear night and look up If there are too many lights around you. 00:12:16.942 --> 00:12:19.718 Drive outside of Birmingham, lay down, look up in content, don't glance. 00:12:19.718 --> 00:12:19.980 Don't glance. 00:12:19.980 --> 00:12:34.675 Consider and contemplate the creation of God and remember that the God who put the stars in place knows your name and he cares for you and knows and cares about the details of your life. 00:12:34.946 --> 00:12:39.034 The question is not whether or not you will feel small in this world. 00:12:39.034 --> 00:12:40.077 Of course you will. 00:12:40.077 --> 00:12:47.693 We all have those feelings when we're overwhelmed by life or whatever the circumstances might be. 00:12:47.693 --> 00:12:51.515 The question is what do you do with that feeling? 00:12:51.515 --> 00:13:04.596 Will you let it drive you to despair, or will you let it drive you up, drive you to look up at the God who is mindful of you? 00:13:04.596 --> 00:13:08.514 Secondly, let's consider our place in creation. 00:13:08.514 --> 00:13:10.207 It gets even better, believe it or not. 00:13:11.350 --> 00:13:12.151 Look at verse five. 00:13:12.151 --> 00:13:18.350 Yet you have made him human beings, a little lower than the heavenly beings. 00:13:18.350 --> 00:13:36.319 Follow the footnote If you have the ESV, the English Standard Version, and you'll see there a little lower another way to translate it is than God and crowned him with glory and honor. 00:13:36.319 --> 00:13:46.110 This is a stunning reversal that changes absolutely everything in our lives, if we can grab hold of this inside of our hearts. 00:13:46.110 --> 00:13:53.841 He's contemplating how fragile life is in God's vast creation, and fragile we are. 00:13:53.841 --> 00:13:59.376 And then he starts talking about our unique position in creation as human beings. 00:13:59.376 --> 00:14:09.809 Our elevated position in creation as human beings, a little higher than the animals but lower than God, echoes, of course, of Genesis, chapter 1. 00:14:09.809 --> 00:14:19.376 Human beings, the pinnacle of creation, made in the image of God, reflecting the glory of God in ways that other parts of creation? 00:14:19.376 --> 00:14:19.918 Do not. 00:14:19.918 --> 00:14:24.254 But here's what really got me this week. 00:14:24.254 --> 00:14:28.962 But here's what really got me this week. 00:14:28.962 --> 00:14:37.164 Did you notice the coronation language in the second part of the verse? 00:14:37.164 --> 00:14:48.004 God has crowned humanity with his own glory and honor, and this isn't an earned crown. 00:14:48.004 --> 00:15:01.173 This isn't an earned dignity and glory. 00:15:01.173 --> 00:15:04.717 It is bestowed upon us by God. 00:15:04.717 --> 00:15:09.442 You did not crown of glory and honor on your head. 00:15:11.326 --> 00:15:15.374 One of my favorite books of recent years is Theo of Golden. 00:15:15.374 --> 00:15:19.933 If you've been around me any length of time, you've probably heard me talk about this book. 00:15:19.933 --> 00:15:44.932 It's a book by Alan Levi and it's a story about an 86-year-old man who leaves his sophisticated life in New York City and moves to this small southern town in Georgia and he walks into a coffee shop and he sees 92 portraits of people in the town and in the community and something moves him and he decides that these portraits need to go to their owner. 00:15:44.932 --> 00:15:55.764 They need to go to the owner of the portraits or whoever the portrait is. 00:15:55.764 --> 00:15:59.448 Whoever I think you get the picture. 00:15:59.448 --> 00:16:02.996 Whoever that picture is of needs to go to that person. 00:16:02.996 --> 00:16:17.958 And so he decides to take the next year and he writes a note and he reaches out to this person and he meets them and he gives them the portrait and starts to get to know these people on a deep friendship level. 00:16:17.999 --> 00:16:32.449 He befriends an eccentric, homeless woman named Ellen, and he befriends a young cellist, an artist, a barista, a store owner, a custodian, a lawyer and a high school student. 00:16:32.449 --> 00:16:39.107 He wants them to know their beauty and their dignity and their potential. 00:16:39.107 --> 00:16:55.966 Theo sees far more in them than they see in themselves and you know what starts to happen the entire city is transformed. 00:16:55.966 --> 00:17:07.584 When people begin to see themselves, through Theo's eyes, as worthy of their portraits being painted, as worthy of being known, as worthy of being celebrated, it changes everything. 00:17:07.584 --> 00:17:16.429 They start to treat one another differently and they start to recognize the inherent dignity in their neighbors that they had previously overlooked. 00:17:16.429 --> 00:17:23.860 That is exactly what happens if we grasp Psalm 8. 00:17:32.365 --> 00:17:33.227 If we grasp Psalm 8. 00:17:33.227 --> 00:17:34.871 That's what happens if we specifically grasp verse 5. 00:17:34.871 --> 00:17:47.346 When you start to understand that, by the grace of God, god has bestowed on you his glory and honor, it changes you, not only how you view yourself, but also the way you treat the other people around you. 00:17:47.346 --> 00:17:59.333 You see, this verse addresses, and this Psalm addresses, the fundamental question that every person asks do I matter? 00:17:59.333 --> 00:18:04.884 And David notice where he goes looking for the answer. 00:18:04.884 --> 00:18:06.867 And David notice where he goes looking for the answer. 00:18:06.867 --> 00:18:12.694 He doesn't go down here, he doesn't go to human achievement and he had lots of human achievement. 00:18:12.694 --> 00:18:25.894 He doesn't go outside of himself, he doesn't go to the culture, he looks up to God and he lets God tell him who he is. 00:18:27.916 --> 00:18:37.175 And, friends, the fact that God has crowned you and given you, made in the image of God, glory and honor and dignity. 00:18:37.175 --> 00:18:41.228 It addresses both pride and despair. 00:18:41.228 --> 00:18:53.049 If you struggle with feelings of a poor self-image or if you are always full of shame and feeling worthless. 00:18:53.049 --> 00:19:02.732 We remember that God, the God of the universe, he has crowned you with his glory and honor. 00:19:02.732 --> 00:19:18.886 You matter not because of what you have accomplished, or what you accomplish or don't accomplish, or what your grade point average is, or how good you are morally, or how many followers you have on social media and whether you're an influencer or not. 00:19:18.886 --> 00:19:22.173 You matter because God says you matter. 00:19:22.173 --> 00:19:29.326 He tells you who you are because God says you matter. 00:19:29.326 --> 00:19:32.971 He tells you who you are, and maybe this morning you're a person that tends to struggle with pride. 00:19:32.990 --> 00:19:39.760 Well, remember that your crown and your glory is bestowed. 00:19:39.760 --> 00:19:45.835 It is not earned All the things that you have achieved. 00:19:45.835 --> 00:19:51.174 Whatever they are, they are gifts from Almighty God. 00:19:51.174 --> 00:20:04.018 Because you are crowned with glory and honor, you can hold your head high without being arrogant, and you can bow your head low without falling into despair. 00:20:04.018 --> 00:20:11.961 Because God says you are royal and you wear a crown without falling into despair. 00:20:11.961 --> 00:20:17.964 Because God says you are royal and you wear a crown, it has profound, profound implications, too, on how we treat one another. 00:20:17.964 --> 00:20:23.668 And this is when it gets tough, because if God crowns you, we normally like that. 00:20:23.668 --> 00:20:27.156 But it also means God has crowned others as well. 00:20:27.156 --> 00:20:37.855 God has crowned the person in your workplace or in your school, or in your family, or in your church or in your neighborhood. 00:20:37.855 --> 00:20:44.238 He has crowned the ones that annoy you and whose views you despise. 00:20:44.238 --> 00:20:51.798 He's given them the same glory and honor that he's given you. 00:20:53.045 --> 00:20:54.029 And think about Theo. 00:20:54.029 --> 00:21:04.317 When we begin to see others as worthy of being known and celebrated and having their portraits painted, it changes everything. 00:21:04.317 --> 00:21:12.011 I mean, just think about that with me for a second and think about our world. 00:21:12.011 --> 00:21:26.713 What would happen if we started to see all the people around us as people who have been bestowed with the crown of glory and honor just by being human Doesn't mean you agree with them about everything. 00:21:26.713 --> 00:21:41.298 But if we saw them as human beings, created in the image of God, bearing his image and starting to recognize God's glory in people that we tend to overlook, friends, that would change our world. 00:21:41.298 --> 00:21:48.866 It would change our neighborhoods and our schools and our churches and our cities and our country. 00:21:50.690 --> 00:21:53.314 Remember when you wonder, do I matter? 00:21:53.314 --> 00:21:56.759 You know what your heart's crying out for. 00:21:56.759 --> 00:21:59.268 Your heart's crying out for God. 00:21:59.268 --> 00:22:06.019 He is the only one that can answer that question definitively. 00:22:06.019 --> 00:22:11.156 If you look down here for the answer to that question, it will destroy you. 00:22:11.156 --> 00:22:21.557 If you look to this world and your accomplishments and the culture to tell you who you are and to validate you, it will destroy you. 00:22:21.557 --> 00:22:38.758 God made you and he gets to tell you who you are, and so look up and be reminded of who you are, that you wear a crown, and let God answer that question in your life. 00:22:38.758 --> 00:22:41.607 Lastly, consider our calling. 00:22:41.647 --> 00:22:43.571 Look at verses six through 8. 00:22:43.571 --> 00:22:51.430 David declares that God has given humanity dominion over his creation. 00:22:51.430 --> 00:22:54.336 So another clear allusion to Genesis, chapter 1. 00:22:54.336 --> 00:23:04.279 The word dominion here gets at this idea of care and stewardship and wisdom and careful rule. 00:23:04.279 --> 00:23:16.618 And so God has put humanity and we know this from the creation account in Genesis 1, has put humanity in charge of caring for and stewarding creation. 00:23:16.618 --> 00:23:19.270 How are we doing? 00:23:19.270 --> 00:23:24.353 How are we doing with that? 00:23:24.353 --> 00:23:29.175 Well, you start reading the Bible and look around. 00:23:29.175 --> 00:23:31.531 We have failed, haven't we? 00:23:31.531 --> 00:23:36.714 Miserably, as stewards of God's creation? 00:23:36.714 --> 00:23:42.896 Think about it this way Pretend you're going out of town for a couple of weeks, let's say on a trip. 00:23:43.085 --> 00:23:48.613 You get your neighbor over, you say I need you to take care of my home and you tell them where everything is. 00:23:48.613 --> 00:23:50.396 You tell them exactly what needs to be done. 00:23:50.396 --> 00:23:51.949 You give them a key to your place. 00:23:51.949 --> 00:23:53.010 You leave. 00:23:53.010 --> 00:23:57.751 You come back in two weeks and you pull up to the driveway and you say something's not right. 00:23:57.751 --> 00:24:02.326 The windows are broken out, your door's left wide open. 00:24:02.326 --> 00:24:04.612 The place is a disaster. 00:24:04.612 --> 00:24:11.693 The pets are starving because they've not been fed, your garden is trampled, your flowers have not been watered. 00:24:11.693 --> 00:24:13.010 They are dying. 00:24:13.010 --> 00:24:19.097 Your neighbor, we could say, has failed in the stewardship of your home. 00:24:21.527 --> 00:24:22.992 That is humanity's story. 00:24:22.992 --> 00:24:26.953 That is our story with creation. 00:24:26.953 --> 00:24:38.854 God entrusted us with his beautiful world and we have left it a mess of our mentally, morally, economically, technologically, relationally. 00:24:38.854 --> 00:24:42.374 We have been terrible stewards. 00:24:42.374 --> 00:24:59.173 We have served and used our dominion to dominate rather than serve, to exploit rather than cultivate, to take rather than give. 00:24:59.173 --> 00:25:02.923 That's the bad news. 00:25:02.923 --> 00:25:10.377 The good news is, the gospel transforms everything, and you know how? 00:25:10.377 --> 00:25:13.567 In Hebrews, chapter 2, verses 6 through 9. 00:25:13.567 --> 00:25:27.209 And if you have your Bible open, please turn there, if not write it down, look this up later, because it reveals that this psalm ultimately points to Jesus Christ. 00:25:28.235 --> 00:25:42.989 The author of Hebrews quotes Psalm 8 and then makes this critical observation Listen, in putting everything under them, humanity, god has left nothing that is not subject to them. 00:25:42.989 --> 00:25:46.705 And yet, at the present time, we do not see everything subject to them. 00:25:46.705 --> 00:25:49.235 And yet, at the present time, we do not see everything subject to them. 00:25:49.235 --> 00:25:54.845 In other words, at the present time, we look around and it's a mess. 00:25:54.845 --> 00:26:02.685 And this psalm has promised complete dominion, but we see, in reality we fail to achieve it. 00:26:02.685 --> 00:26:04.936 Then comes the gospel. 00:26:05.097 --> 00:26:07.816 If you keep reading in Hebrews, chapter 2, listen to this. 00:26:07.816 --> 00:26:13.442 I love this, but we do see Jesus. 00:26:13.442 --> 00:26:24.800 But we do see Jesus, who made himself a little lower than the angels for a little while. 00:26:24.800 --> 00:26:29.135 Listen, not crowned with glory and honor, but with death. 00:26:29.135 --> 00:26:32.898 Isn't that astounding? 00:26:32.898 --> 00:26:40.306 The hymn in Psalm 8 is ultimately not about humanity in. 00:26:40.306 --> 00:26:48.653 It is about Jesus, the perfect human, who succeeded where we have failed. 00:26:50.576 --> 00:26:53.681 How did Jesus accomplish dominion over creation? 00:26:53.681 --> 00:26:58.670 His life Think about the life of Jesus. 00:26:58.670 --> 00:27:06.667 He demonstrated perfect dominion with his acts of restoration and service, rather than personal power. 00:27:06.667 --> 00:27:08.215 He calmed the storm. 00:27:08.215 --> 00:27:08.817 Why? 00:27:08.817 --> 00:27:09.999 To bring peace. 00:27:09.999 --> 00:27:12.624 He fed the hungry, he healed the sick. 00:27:12.624 --> 00:27:16.190 Why To restore and heal creation. 00:27:16.190 --> 00:27:36.028 We also see it in his dominion, his ultimate expression, through his death, through making himself a little lower than the angels for a little while, by hanging from a cross, and he shatters death's hold over humanity. 00:27:36.028 --> 00:27:41.221 How, through his resurrection, he ascends into heaven. 00:27:41.221 --> 00:27:46.970 He sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty, now ruling over creation. 00:27:48.194 --> 00:28:07.250 And right now, romans 8 says all of creation is groaning and waiting for Jesus, our King, to return and finally and fully bring perfect peace to this world and perfect dominion to this world over creation, the way God intended it. 00:28:07.250 --> 00:28:11.259 Last question so what do we do until then? 00:28:11.259 --> 00:28:16.235 We don't just say well, whatever, right, no. 00:28:16.235 --> 00:28:22.929 Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we live out our callings as redeemed stewards. 00:28:22.929 --> 00:28:36.315 As redeemed stewards, god has redeemed us, not just our souls, yes, but also our calling. 00:28:36.315 --> 00:28:51.698 We're not just saved from something, we're saved to something and for something, and that something is to be caretakers of creation, the way God intended us to be. 00:28:51.698 --> 00:28:57.307 And so now this is another sermon, but let me give you a couple of takeaways and ways to apply this. 00:29:07.315 --> 00:29:17.347 Now, united to him, we can begin to exercise dominion as stewards and serve, rather than exploit, everything God has given you, has been placed under you and under your care to steward. 00:29:17.347 --> 00:29:19.631 And of course we naturally go to the environment. 00:29:19.631 --> 00:29:24.403 Of course that's part of this, but it's way broader than that. 00:29:24.403 --> 00:29:31.759 It means stewarding your gifts, the gifts that God has given you. 00:29:31.759 --> 00:29:35.009 And so that gets at your work and what God's called you to do. 00:29:35.009 --> 00:29:37.576 It gets at how you treat your employees. 00:29:37.576 --> 00:29:42.424 Are you a good steward of the people that God has placed under you? 00:29:42.424 --> 00:29:49.621 It gets at the stewardship of your family and the stewardship of your wealth and your money. 00:29:49.621 --> 00:29:58.982 And it gets at the stewardship and how we care for our neighborhoods and how we care for the neighbors around us See how extensive. 00:29:58.982 --> 00:30:05.021 And it gets at how we steward and use our words, and we could go on and on. 00:30:05.021 --> 00:30:17.385 We are called to be different, to be the kind of stewards who point people to the perfect steward, jesus Christ, who is making all things new. 00:30:19.516 --> 00:30:37.002 And so, as we close the next time, you feel overwhelmed and you feel small and you wonder in this vast universe, do you really matter and does God really care? 00:30:39.876 --> 00:30:48.929 Do what David did and look up and consider God's glory and majesty that he has displayed in creation. 00:30:48.929 --> 00:31:04.687 Consider the crown of glory and honor that he has placed on your head and, lastly, consider your sacred calling that God has given human beings to steward this world with wisdom and care and love. 00:31:04.687 --> 00:31:13.982 Let's pray, father, thank you that you are mindful of us. 00:31:13.982 --> 00:31:33.336 And, holy Spirit, I pray that we would live believing that this week, that you have crowned us and made us in the end, to the image of God, which is an amazing thing, and I pray that, through your spirit, you would help us to see others that way. 00:31:33.336 --> 00:31:36.182 And then, lastly, would you help us? 00:31:36.182 --> 00:31:37.085 It's hard. 00:31:37.085 --> 00:31:42.961 We need you, holy Spirit, to help us be good stewards of all that you have given us. 00:31:42.961 --> 00:31:49.358 So would you help us in our little corner of this vast world that you have put us over? 00:31:49.358 --> 00:31:52.204 Help us to be good stewards of it. 00:31:52.204 --> 00:31:56.353 We ask these things in Jesus' name, amen.