Psalm 8

Auto-generated from the audio — may contain errors.

0:00 We finished last week, we finished, sorry, last week we finished going through the whole story of scripture. Thirty weeks, thirty-something weeks. And that was a lot. And maybe you learned a little bit. One of the things I took away was I was just reminded how much our scriptures are a story of people rather than like some divine thing that falls out of the sky.

0:35 That God uses the story. One of the phrases I heard when I was over the course of that thirty weeks is that God trusts people to tell his story, which I think is really cool, instead of telling the story himself. So often he trusts people to tell the story. And that means that people are in context and they're working things out. And for me, going through the whole story of scripture that way was fun to think through that. But one of my takeaways has been what do we do now?

1:10 Like we're not in first century Israel. We're not in the time of the prophets. We're not in the Roman Empire as interesting as that was for me to read about the life of John and how he became bishop and Ephesus. What are we supposed to really be doing? And I think like so often like what I'm supposed to be doing for what like what the church

1:42 has told me I'm supposed to be doing over the long years of my life has been different in different seasons. And the like ideal of what I'm trying to become if I'm a good Christian has been different based on like what group I'm a part of or who I'm listening to. And I don't know if that's the same for you if you've had a lot of experience with church telling you you should be this thing or you should do that thing or you should think this

2:16 way or do this this way. So what I want to do is spend several weeks thinking about who ought we to be in light of the story of Scripture. And it starts with this Psalm 8. I'll read it again. Psalm 8 if you want to follow along is it says it's a psalm of David. Maybe David wrote it. He is written during the time of David when he was bringing the Ark of the Covenant into

2:49 Jerusalem and setting up a formal practice of worship. David really he did write music. So they wrote a lot of Psalms maybe during his reign or by him. Psalm 8 it has like it says according to the gith of so it's like I got a specific rhythm so it might have been sung or repeated. But safe to say it's been used by the people of God for a long time as an act of worship.

3:24 So listen to Psalm 8. Oh Lord our Lord how majestic is your name in all the earth. You have set your glory above the heavens and out of the mouth of babes and infants you have established strength because of your foes to still the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens the work of your fingers the moon and the stars which you have set in place what is man that you are mindful of him the son of man that you care for him. Yet you have set him a little bit lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory

3:57 and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet all sheep and oxen and also the beasts of the field the birds of the heaven and the fish of the sea whatever passes along the paths of the seas. Oh Lord our Lord how majestic is your name in all the earth. The psalmist says that God made the heavenly realms like the stars and the moon we are

4:29 going back to the moon. It hangs out there. Those are big and I can't imagine how you conjure that up out of nothing. The psalmist is struck by looking at how many stars there are and the idea that all of these things sprung out of the imagination and other psalm it says that God calls forth each of the stars by name and knows them and brings them into existence. So the affirmation of our people from the very beginning has been that there is a God

5:03 and this God made all things that exist out of nothing. And so then the psalmist is struck by if you made like the cosmos who am I that you would be mindful of me. The son of man that you would care for me. In another place there is a psalm where it talks about how we are like grass we wither

5:35 and die. I've had a couple of friends pass lately and I have a couple of friends dealing with significant cancer diagnoses and enough to realize that once you cross 70 Terry and I were talking about you cross 70 and it can go one or two ways for you. I was talking to another friend whose dad is in his early 80s and I was saying like it's a bummer because his dad is getting very ill and he's in and out of the hospital.

6:08 And it's like yeah it is kind of a bummer but like the average life expectancy in the United States isn't quite 80. We all think we'll live into our 80s but the average life expectancy in the US isn't even into the 80s. And so the psalmist in a couple of places is doing this thing taking real stock of who they are like especially relative to God and it's a good practice actually for you to consider

6:43 who are you. Like God has made these humongous things that endure the sun maybe the sun is on its down swing they say right like it's getting less intense I don't know maybe in a billion years it'll burn out or something. But that's a long arc. God has made stars that have these long life arcs right. Who knows how old the earth is but an atmosphere that works just right.

7:14 God has made these things with long arcs and they are like holding creating gravity and then gravity affecting the movement of time like on large scales and you are like navigating the like politics of one little country or one little city for 70, 80 years if you're doing well like the psalmist is appropriately going who am I like what is my place why would

7:51 I matter how should I think about who I'm going to be. And I think it's like not a fun thing to consider but a helpful thing to consider and that's why it's stuck in the psalms in so many little places. And the psalmist gets to a point you have given him dominion over the works of your hands you put all things under his feet remember that this is in the very beginning God makes the earth just like I told the kids God makes the earth and then gives it to humanity it's

8:26 in Genesis chapter one right at the beginning it's in one verse 28. God has made all of creation and then in twenty six then God said let us make humanity in our image after our likeness let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and every creeping thing that creeps on earth and so God created man in his own image and the image of God he

8:57 created a male and female he created them and then God blessed them and God said to them be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it have dominion over the fish of the sea over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that flows on the earth I don't know what that first garden is like but it's better than where we are now right but the reference are similar so there are animals that creep along the ground there's rivers that flow there's trees that grow so we have a sense of what Eden was but we know that it was like somehow broader and fuller and more substantial than the world

9:33 that we're in and God calls it forth out of nothing and it's very first we know that food is produced out of the garden of Eden easier than it is here we know that there's like no death or shame or fear in the garden of Eden so somehow it's a better existence and God made it out of nothing and then gives it away which is crazy he's like this place is perfect here you have it you be in charge of it hey as a matter of fact you name everything

10:04 this in here I don't need to name it you name it all and then like you tend it and you be my representative through it this will be yours you fill it up and subdue it rule over it and take dominion and so God imagined a whole existence out of nothing and then gave it to humanity and of course it's not the same but it's similar to you it's not the same you

10:40 weren't born into an Eden but you certainly didn't ask to be here and when you came in you came into a place now maybe some of those places were prepared for you better than others maybe some of those people to whom you were delivered were more prepared than others but you came into a place not of your own idea of this free gift and what's crazy is God he creates

11:20 Eden and puts humanity there the perfect ideal setting and humanity can't live up to the calling of being God's image bearers perfectly in the world they can't do it right they kind of fail and what was perfect becomes less than perfect and so God brings them out of the garden in order to preserve a future perfection that they might not endure eternally in imperfection he takes them

11:56 out of the garden but this is what's crazy he doesn't remove from them the responsibility it's not like you can't handle this let me take you out of there and I'll just take care of everything for you he's not like okay you guys can't do it never mind I'll do it you guys can't grow food never mind I'll grow food you guys can't love a spouse well never mind I'll love a spouse well

12:27 you guys can't raise children perfectly they're killing each other never mind I'll take the opportunity away from you I'll raise children perfectly he doesn't do that he takes them out of the garden and leaves the responsibility with him he also doesn't go okay you guys ruin to this you'll never get it again no more earth for you no more spouse for you no more kids for you he doesn't the first two kids they have one kills the other that's a failure

13:04 if your kids kill themselves it's not all the parents fault but we all have roles responsibilities right it should not have happened and then they had more kids I mean and this is the crazy thing about God if you want we just read the whole story of scripture within a couple of generations with a couple of chapters of Genesis it says that all the all desires of their heart were all evil all the time that they only wanted what they wanted that

13:39 they were failing in every area and so God starts over with Noah and then he what does he tell Noah at the end of the flood we could go back and look at it or you could take my word for it they stand up on Mount Ararat or wherever the the ark lands and God tells Noah hey fill the earth and subdue it rule over it try again and so then people imperfectly try again and again

14:16 and again it seems crazy that God is committed to humanity in this way there would be like hey be my image bear in the world fill the earth and subdue it bring forth food take care of one

14:49 another and they keep failing and they keep setting them up at it again and again and again even such that when Jesus comes like in like resurrects an opportunity for humanity to let God be God they god realizes by the time of Jesus that this humanity they need more like in their current state it won't work they need a resurrected body they need the indwelling of the spirit and so Christ goes through the death and resurrection and then dispatches the spirit

15:22 but doesn't remove people all in order to get them to be human so when I'm thinking about like what's the goal for us I mean it would be that we would get to be fully human does it seem lofty this was one of the big realizations of the Reformation you know

15:56 the church by that point had decided that there was like holy work and unholy work that in order to do the work of God you needed to pray a certain amount and actually pray for to undo every wrong a prayer for every wrong basically so then every time you did something wrong you needed to do more praying and if you really wanted to like please God you would leave behind all of the things of the world and then just be praying all of the time

16:27 and this happens that's like the catholic mentality but this happens in evangelical spaces could be like all other goals are less important than getting one recruited to join the movement as though our job here is as spiritual recruiters or something as though the only thing that matters is having recruited people to your thing isn't it interesting how much time Jesus spends just like healing people I think I thought about this like they're sick and he heals them and then moves on

17:03 they're dead and he raises them back from the dead and then moves on they're hungry and they need something to eat and he feeds them and then moves on and it's like why doesn't he just save them do the most important thing and then leave there's one time he tries to do that right where they bring the guy down and he's in the house with all of the people and he forgives them his sins and they're like cool but he can't walk he's like well forgiving sins is a bigger deal but if you'd like to walk I'll also let you walk take your mat and go right so he recognizes that like

17:38 a relationship with God is preeminent but also he cares about people just living a life and being able to walk and so like Jesus lives as we might full a full example for us in the world and he cares about the people around him he addresses the needs of the people in front of him he loves the unlovable he moves towards the forgotten he takes care of his friends he challenges hypocrisy

18:08 he addresses injustice because he recognizes that God cares about the world working and he's given over the work of the world to humanity here this is what I'm trying to say that God that you were God's idea much like the first ones you were not your own idea and you are a very small little piece of God's creation it's true

18:48 on the scale of time you're very small on the scale of space you're very small there are a lot of people you're just one of them there have been a lot of people there will be a lot of people you're just one of them there's been a lot of time you're here for 70 or 80 years and also there are things God has aligned for only you to do

19:28 that's crazy you are God's idea and he brought you here and gave you specific work to do I mean now if I think about that that work is pretty important in the scale of things I have going on in my day I do have to get to my email inbox that's important I do need to cut my grass but if I could have a to-do list of the things God gave me to do

20:08 I would like that um at that Reformation when we started to realize oh so to be human is to have specific roles they started lumping those roles into three they call them arenas so they would call your roles your vocations in the world you have specific vocations in the world and these vocations fall into three main arenas

20:39 three main arenas family church and we'll call it like neighborhood or civic three main arenas family church neighborhood so then God has specific roles responsibilities where you carry his image enforce his order and justice where you are ruling and reigning in three areas where you have

21:10 responsibility that are unique to you family church neighborhood family church neighborhood um how's it going in those I think like the end goal of living under the reign of God is that we could be humans

21:48 who with grace and love and generosity engage our responsibility in those three areas well this is why when like when someone comes up to Jesus and they're like what should we do he's like love lord you got with all your heart soul mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself he didn't say you have to be the evangelist that conquers the world he didn't say you had to be the hermit that that gets ascended and deification and joins with God in a mystical experience

22:22 he didn't say you needed to outline all of the 613 laws in the story of scripture become an expert on the scriptures he said hey what should we do hey you should love the lord you got with all your heart soul mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself where might I do that in your family in the people of God and in the world I was thinking about when he is describing the love of God for the people of God one of the biggest parables he uses is the product is the

22:56 parable of the loving father like the family is the metaphor for God and humanity and an emblem and a practicing of it when he's talking about a love of neighbor he uses a story of the good Samaritan he's like crossing political lines to love and serve one another when he's talking about

23:30 engaging in church he observes the widow giving everything she has to the people of God trusting the people of God will then take care of her so what I'm what we what I would think what we were going to do for the next couple of weeks is like look at these three arenas of vocation

24:00 to go how might we live in light of the story of scripture in our families in our church and in our neighborhood knowing that we won't do it perfectly we will fail and yet it is uniquely for us we are not arbitrary or happenstance but we are unique with intention and forethought from God for

24:39 now and this place and these people and we'll like our life better when we own that and lean into it with the help of God so let's pray that we might start to consider that together hey Lord thank you for the gift of life that you've brought to us thank you for the hope that you give us in the person of Jesus teach us today what responsibilities you lay in front of us

25:10 and how we might take them up shoulder them repent well in them and start again in Jesus name we pray amen