Image by www.LumoProject.com
|
While we rightfully proclaim Jesus' birth during our Christmas celebrations, don't forget the man who came in the power and spirit of Elijah - John the Baptist! Don't forget Zechariah and his wife Elisabeth who, even in old age, gave birth to John. And don't forget that "many shall rejoice at his birth."
|
|
0 Comments
Transcription forthcoming
Berkshire Hills Baptist Church
October 15, 2023 A Proper Perspective Psalm 8
Outline
I. Introduction II. The Lord's Excellence a. His Name is excellent for you personally b. His Name is excellent for the whole world III. Children Teach us Faith IV. What is man? a. Mankind is special b. God gave man a job to do c. Take care of the earth V. Psalm 8 is prophetic of Christ a. He is a personal God b. What is Jesus like in your life? VI. Closing remarks and concluding prayer I. Introduction Sometimes we have trouble with God, because we, because of our human perspective. The way we were raised, our parents. Maybe some adults in our lives and then we look at God and people say trust him and you're thinking no, I didn't have adults around me I could trust. How can I trust a God I cannot see? Well Psalm 8 helps us to bring into proper perspective who God is. Like I said when the Jews sometimes, when they felt a little bit proud, they would walk out in the fields and repeat this psalm to remind them the relationship they have with God. And if we're going to continue on in the Christian life, we must never forget our relationship with the Creator. Let's just look at this and try to look at a few different words to help us understand what this psalm is really trying to say. Because when we have a proper perspective of the relationship between God and ourselves, then our lives will go better. Our thought life will be better. Our spiritual life will be better. Our emotional life will be better. Our physical life will be better. II. The Lord's Excellence In verse 1, let's look at the first three verses first. Ps 8:1 O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. 2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. 3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; It starts off in verse one saying that the Lord is excellent. I know we sang the song, they use the word majestic instead of excellent in the song. That word, excellent just means worthy. It means powerful. That means greater than all else. So, when we talk about the Lord, we say his name is excellent. But why would his name be excellent. When we look at, Scripture and talk about names, we often think - why does it talk about understanding the Lord's name? I don't know if any of you ever done it or ever heard it but sometimes when you get a young man or a young woman, got to go make their mark in the world. What do they say? I'm going to go out and make a 'name' for myself. What's that mean? I'm going to go out so that once I've done something people will, when my name is mentioned, they won't just think of the name. They'll think of all that I've done. You know, we've probably all heard of the man JC Penney. Sometimes, all we think about is all the stores that Penney has. What some people don't know is that early in his life he was a Christian. He gave to the church. Normal tithe, 10%. But as the Lord prospered him, he gave more and more. Do you know at the end of his life, he was giving 90% to church projects of his income. He made a name for himself, not just with the people around him but with God. Because he was honoring God in all that he did. So when we think that 'how excellent is thy name', we have to think of all the God is. God is powerful. God is ever-present, God is all-knowing. God is love. God is a spirit. So when we think of his name, we have to think of what he is, who he is - not just in the world, but in our lives. Remind us, you know this psalm .. and we're actually going to cover it more this afternoon. But this psalm is also prophetic of Jesus Christ. When we're talking about names, remember Philippians 2:9-11, talking about the name. 9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. ~ Phil 2:9-11 See, that's making a name for yourself. When you're given a name by God, and then you go out to show who God is. That was one of the purposes for Jesus coming to earth. He came to earth for our salvation, but he also came to earth so we could see a personal God. He made a name for himself. That name is God. That name is Jesus. That name is excellent. That name is majestic. So when you think of God and you think of his name, it's not just God or the Lord, it's all that he is and all that he does in the world and in your life. a. His Name is excellent for you personally Never forget what he's done in your life. Hopefully, the main thing he did was when you came to him and confessed you were a sinner and received the forgiveness of sins he offers. It's one of the great things you know, I mentioned Peter talking about forgiveness in Sunday school. When Jesus stood on that cross. I mean, hung on that cross and said, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do", he was forgiving the whole, not just a few soldiers, the whole world of all of their sins. But it's only complete when you accept it. He's willing to forgive you of your sins. You just have to say, Lord, I accept your forgiveness. I accept what you did for me. Salvation is open to everyone. Hopefully, everybody here has accepted those forgiveness of sins and, you know, that should that trumpet sound, this place will be empty. I think the saddest thing in the world in a Christian Church is that the the trumpet sounds and they're still two or three people sitting around. b. His Name is excellent for the whole world Because if they've been taught at that moment, they'll know, literally, they missed the boat. And tribulation is coming. I can't wait for the sound. Because I'm going. I hope you are too. Why? Because I've trusted in the name of Jesus, the name of the Lord. And notice, his name is not just good for us, his name is excellent in all the world. It's not just an American name or are Europe name or African name. His name, people know him all over the world. Notice it says, "and who hast set his thy glory above the heavens." I don't know about the other versions. In the King James it's kind of hard because they put a exclamation point after earth, but it's really a continuation sentence. Who set his glory above the heavens? God did. That's where God is. He's in the heavens. Amen? He's waiting for us. In fact, the Father sitting on the throne with the Son at the right hand waiting for the Father to say, go get them. He set his glory up there. III. Children Teach us Faith But he says also out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast ordained strength. I'll be honest, as I read that, I was a little confused. But there's an old thing, it's called let scripture interpret scripture. So, you don't have to turn there, but in Matthew 21:16, Jesus was in a temple. He just overthrown the tables. The children in the temple started crying "Hosanna unto the highest, Hosanna, O son of David." To Jesus. And the chief priests told him to shut up basically. I'm adding a little bit there, but you get the idea. They were displeased. You know what Jesus said about those children? He quoted Psalm 8. Matt 21:16 And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise? So when we read 'ordained strengthen' in Psalms, Jesus said that means 'perfected praise'. In other words, children know how to praise God. Children know to trust him. Children know to have faith. Children know to praise him for who he is. Then we get to be adults and we get a little mean, grumpy. We get so involved with the things around us. We forget that we need to praise the Lord. That's why Jesus said suffer the little children to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven. That's why when we trust Christ as our Savior, we're not called adults of God, we're called children of God. Because that's the way we come to him. So it says, out of babes, out of children, they know how to worship the Lord because they trust him for who he is. You say have faith in God, they go, okay. They know. We can take a big lesson from the children. We think sometimes we have to teach them but we can learn a lot from them too if we just listen because they have faith. Notice also. Is says "that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger." Kids will show the enemies of God how God should be treated. There's a lot of enemies of God around, isn't there. There's a lot of people that hate God. They think God is a myth, the Lord is a myth. 'If the Lord is such a loving God, why does he allow sin in the world?" Well he didn't allow sin in the world? I mean, he didn't make it. What happened is, he told Adam and Eve - you have one rule. I always thought. This is amazing. We have trouble with rules. Adam and Eve had one. See that tree, don't eat that tree. Satan came along in the form of a serpent, told Eve, 'God doesn't know what he's talking about. Go ahead, eat it. God doesn't want you to eat it because he doesn't want you to be like him.' So, Eve ate it, gave some to Adam. Suffering is what we see now. Because of sin. That's why Jesus came. So we can have that sin forgiven. And children will show the enemies faith. Trust God. You know, for all you have kids, sometimes you knew something was coming up. And your kids were excited that it was coming up and they wanted it to happen right then. And you just tell, no, just trust me. I know it's coming. I know this event we're going to or this occasion. I know it's coming. And most of the time, kids get a little antsy, but they're still say, 'Okay. I trust you'. That's the way we should trust God. And the way kids trust God. Put a black mark on those who hate him. It just shows how mean they are. Notice, verse 3, "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars ..." So the psalmist is saying, listen, when I look up and I see all of those stars, all the moon and the sun, I don't know about you. I'm amazed by all that. Did you ever sit out on a starlit night and just think, how many of them are up there? That farthest one over there, I wonder what's on the other side of that one? And if we could get to the other side of that one, wonder what's on the other side of that? It's just so immense. Large. And then you say, God made that. God made that moon and put it right where it's supposed to be. God, made the sun to warm the earth, God made the earth. All of the heavens all of it, God created. And it just so, you want to feel small - just do that once? IV. What is man? But then the psalmist that says you made all of this. Then he asks the question. "What is man?" Who are we compared to all of that? "That thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visited him?" What's interesting about that is when he says 'what is man, and then the son of man'. Mankind has to do with the mortal being that you are. Just like the animals. We live, we die. Son of man has to do with being an ancestor of Adam. Not only do we live and we die, but we have promises from God, that came from Adam, and then Abraham and all the others. Going through Genesis on the Bible study {Wednesday night}, we've been talking about a lot of these people: Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all of the problems and all of the things that went on. And the way God guided at all of them. So you look up at all and God made and then you look at people and the psalmist says and sometimes probably we say "Who are we"? a. Mankind is special What is mankind? By the way ladies, that word 'man' means mankind. Human beings. Who are we compared to all the God has made? We are special. How do we know that? Because look at verse 5: Ps 8:5, For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. A little lower than the angels means that .. a lower-ranked, so to speak. Angels are spirits. We are spirits and flesh. Angels can basically go anywhere. We can't. That's what it means a little lower. But even though we're made a little lower than the angels, a lesser rank, he give us glory and honor. He crowned us human beings, special. You are special because God made you. Do you know how special you are? You're so special, Jesus Christ came to die for you and your sins because he wants you to be in heaven. You said, no, he didn't die for me. Yes, he did. Doesn't that just give you chills, thinking God died .. the Son of God died for your sins? Even if there was only one person who needed that, he'd of done it. What is man that he's mindful of him? He's God's crowning achievement. He is loved by God so much that God sent his son to die for our sins so that we could spend eternity with him. Wow. b. God gave man a job to do But what about now? God give us some special things to do. Something that the angels don't have. The angels aren't crowned with glory and honor. But look at verse 6. Ps 8:6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: 7 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; 8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. Mankind was given responsibility over what God created. When it says, 'he has dominion' that doesn't mean .. sometimes you think somebody has dominion over you that they just going to be rough with you and just pound, pound, pound. No, dominion has the idea of not only 'rule over' but 'care of'. Adam was given a job in the Garden of Eden. God said, take care of it. Then Adam got kicked out. Because sin's in the earth, there with thorns and all these other things came up but he still says, we are responsible to take care of the earth. Now, before you think anything else, I'm not a tree hugger. However, God has given us the responsibility to take care of what he made. Amen? c. Take care of the earth Now I haven't hunted in years, but some of you are hunters. That's okay. But I tell you, I've known people who say they're hunters, all they do is go out and shoot stuff and let it lay. That's not a hunter, that's a butcher. God wants us to take care of it. That's why he gave us that stuff, meat to eat, things to eat to come off of trees. And we're to take care of them. You don't go out and clear cut a whole forest just so you can have lumber. You plant stuff back. You take care of it. That's what God wants us to do. He says, okay I'm going to make mankind. I'm going to crown him with glory and honor and I'm going to give him a responsibility. Take care of what I made. And sadly, we've failed in that in so many ways as a human race. But he says, God says 'I made a lot and I want you to take care of it." Are we taking care of it? Hopefully. And I'm not talking about climate control and all that. Why did he do that? Because he knew if we just sit around doing nothing, we'd get in trouble. He gave us responsibilities. He tells us in the New Testament you know, if you want to eat, you should work. He wants us to work to take care of what he give us, to take care of ourselves, to take care of our families. That's who God is. God says, 'Listen, I created everything, and the heavens, they'll take care of themselves. But the things on earth, I'm going to put mankind down there and you take care of that for me.' That's a big responsibility. Even though we're made a little lower than the angels, he's giving us a lot of responsibility that the angels don't have. But he's also giving us salvation and the angels can never know that. When we look and see that mankind was made a little lower than the angels, remember, I told you that this whole Psalm is also prophetic of Jesus Christ? V. Psalm 8 is prophetic of Christ I'm going to read one verse out of Hebrews 2:9, but this afternoon we're going to look that whole section a little more in depth. But listen. Heb 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. Jesus .. what that's saying is Jesus became man even though he was God so he could die for us, for our sins. And I hope you've trusted Jesus for that. I hope you had your sins forgiven. I hope you realize how great God is. Is there anything that you cannot go to God for and seek help? No. Is there anything God can't do? I know, we're not going to say, you know .. Is there anything God can't do? Yeah. There is. God can't lie. God cannot not keep his promises. But when he does make a promise, he will keep it. He'll never leave you nor forsake you. He's always there. He'll give you rest when we come to him and learn how to be meek. Jesus. But until we see him, we're left here. And then we finish up with the same words that started this song. "Oh Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth?" I didn't mention it first, but if you look, I think if you got other in the King James - I think it's that way too. I know some don't. But the first LORD is all caps. The second Lord isn't. There's a reason for that. The first LORD, if you ever see in the Bible, the word LORD spelled in all caps, that means Jehovah, The Great I Am. The eternally existence of God. a. He is a personal God The other Lord is actually the Hebrew word Adonai, which means "The Sovereign God". So what this is saying is, "O Jehovah, O the Great I Am, our Sovereign God." That means he's personal. This doesn't say, oh, Jehovah Adonai. It says, 'O Jehovah, our Adonia.' He's our personal God or can be if we allow him. If we have that childlike faith and just trust him. He's your god? He's Adonai, he's sovereign, he's loving, he's caring. b. What is Jesus like in your life? And again, "how excellent is thy name in all the Earth". But what I want to ask you now, is this. Yes, his name is excellent in all the Earth. But how excellent is his name in your life? What is your relationship, what is your understanding with God almighty? Is he just somebody you trusted for salvation? You're going to do what you want to or is he somebody that you trust in all things? A daily faith. A daily understanding that everything comes from God. Is his name excellent in your life? When you think of God, what do you think of? Do you think of an insurance policy, get you out of hell? I hope not. I hope it's much more than that. I hope you think of God as the Creator. When you go outside and you see all that we see, you say, 'God made that. God made those trees. God made those birds. God made those stars. God made the sun, the moon. God made me. And it's interesting to understand that your created by God. Your saying no, 'I came for my mom'. Well, scriptures tells us that God allowed that because you are his. Sometimes we go on our own way, but we need to get back to the point where God means more than anything else to us. Just thinking about God, you feel like you're running up against a brick wall? Don't look at the wall. Look up. Say God, how you going to handle this? If you trusted Christ and you have the peace with God, also, understand that he'll give you the peace of God to carry you through each and every day because God is excellent in all that he does and he'll be excellent in your life. So from this point on, everything that happens, everything you see, just think, how does that relate to who God is? And praise him. Praise him, just like the children do. Praise Him. Let's bow our heads. VI. Closing remarks and concluding prayer I don't know how the word of God spoke to your heart today, but hopefully you come to a new realization of who God is, who God wants to be in your life, more than just a Creator, more than just a savior. He wants to be your personal God, your Adonai, your sovereign to help you, to guide you. That's why he give the Holy Spirit to you. Rely on the Holy Spirit to guide you, direct you in all that you do. So answer this question yourself. Who are you? You are a child of God, if you trusted him. Let's live that way. I don't know how the Lord touched your heart, but I'm going to pray. You can lift up your heart to him right now too in prayer. Heavenly Father Lord, we thank you for this psalm that reminds us who we are and who you are. Lord, let us put all things in perspective. Let us understand that you are God and we're not. And yet, still Lord, we thank you that you crowned us with glory. We thank you Lord that you given us responsibilities. But most of all Lord, we thank you that you've given us salvation through your Son, Jesus Christ who became man for us. Thank you. Lord, work in our hearts. Let us never forget who you are. We ask this in Jesus name, amen.
Transcription forthcoming
|
