IT DOESN’T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS!
Psalm 8:1-9
S: Worship
Th: Prayer: A Passion for His Presence
Pr: WE MUST CELEBRATE HIS MAJESTY.
?: Why?
KW: Reasons
TS: We will find in our study of Psalm 8, four reasons why we celebrate the majesty of God.
The _____ reason we celebrate the majesty of God is His…
I. SUPERIORITY (1)
II. SHREWDNESS (2)
III. SKILL (3-4)
IV. STRATEGY (4-8)
Version: ESV
RMBC 24 Nov 02 AM
INTRODUCTION:
The old Southern preacher, Vance Havner, once said…
“Too many church services start at 11:00 sharp and end at 12:00 dull.”
I do find some comfort in this statement because we rarely end at 12:00, but I venture that isn’t the real point.
Nevertheless, that insightful statement reminded me of the story when…
ILL Notebook: Worship (Died in the service)
One Sunday morning, the pastor noticed little Johnny was standing and staring up at the large plaque that hung in the foyer of the church. The young man of seven has been staring at the plaque for some time, so the pastor walked up and stood beside him and, gazing up at the plaque, he said quietly, “Good morning, son.”
“Good morning, pastor,” replied the young man not taking his eyes off the plaque. “Sir, what is this?” Johnny asked.
“Well, son, these are all the people who have died in the service,” replied the pastor. Soberly, they stood together staring up at the large plaque.
Little Johnny’s voice barely broke the silence when he asked quietly, “Which one sir, the 8:30 or the 10:30 service?”
Well, we expect everyone to leave living today.
And we don’t want anyone dying of boredom!
TRANSITION:
But have you ever been to a worship service that was dull?
That there was a sameness to it that was uninteresting and unexciting, to the point that it was depressing?
Worship should never be like that.
For…
1. When it comes to the subject of God, the last thing it should be is boring.
God is not boring!
He is exciting!
He is exhilarating!
So, if this is true…
2. There must be an excitement that accompanies worship or we are doing it wrong.
This is something we find in the psalm we are studying today.
There is an air of excitement in this psalm.
We are studying Psalm 8, another song that is written by David.
And he begins and ends this song with the same line:
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
David knows that God is worth celebrating.
So in this song that mingles joy and awe, he rehearses the facts about who God is and what He has done.
But along with this, we will also will see that David relates a certain unexpectedness about how God works that demonstrates His grace.
So, we will see in our study today that…
3. WE MUST CELEBRATE HIS MAJESTY.
The question we will ask ourselves in our time together is “Why?”
Why must we celebrate God’s majesty?
Well…
4. We will find in our study of Psalm 8, four reasons why we celebrate the majesty of God.
OUR STUDY:
I. The first reason we celebrate the majesty of God is His SUPERIORITY (1).
David states here…
You have set your glory above the heavens.
This simple statement demonstrates that…
God is above all (cf. Psalm 19:1-2).
The majestic name of God flows from the heavens and permeates the earth.
His glory demonstrates His supremacy and transcendence.
Thus, we know that He is Lord.
He has power over life and death.
He is responsible for everything under His domain.
He is the final decision-maker.
And being perfectly righteous, He sets the rules.
What He says goes.
And, graciously, He continues to speak to us.
Note what David says in Psalm 19:
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.
We worship and celebrate the majesty of God because even though He is above us, He is always speaking to us.
II. The second reason we celebrate the majesty of God is His SHREWDNESS (2).
ILL Notebook: Expertise
I am sure you have noticed it. More and more children are being born with microchips in their hands. Our young people go about acquiring technological skills and operating personal computers with apparent ease. Many of the more mature among us (who still think of the ballpoint pen as a modern miracle) can only watch in amazement.
For example, a man was talking to a clerk in an electronics store about buying a VCR. “I’m sorry to be asking all these questions,” he said, “but I’m not the mechanical type.” Then he pointed to a VCR on the shelf and said, “I’ll take that one.”
The clerk told him that the item was out of stock and he couldn’t sell the floor model. “But we can deliver it to you next Monday,” he said.
“That’s too late,” the man replied. “Someone is coming to install it for me tomorrow.”
The clerk then suggested that the man tell the installer to come “next Monday” instead.
“I can’t,” the customer said. Then, after an embarrassed pause, he added, “He’s my grandson, he’s ten-years-old and he’s leaving for camp on Sunday.”
In so many ways, our young people lead the way, don’t they?
Well, even back in David’s time this was a truth.
Note what he writes…
Out of the mouth of babes and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.
In this context…
1. Enemies symbolize human strength.
The enemy and his minions are arrogant in their self-assertion.
They oppose God without blinking an eye.
But what they fail to realize is that their strength is greatly inferior to God’s.
I can’t help but wonder if David was thinking of his battle with Goliath when he wrote this psalm.
David had faced Goliath when he was only a child and when Goliath saw him, he laughed.
But from the mouth of David came the truth:
“You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.”
Goliath’s defiance and arrogance was defeated by the strength of an “infant” who spoke the truth!
You see, again, in this context…
2. Babies symbolize human weakness (I Corinthians 1:27).
This is where the shrewdness of God becomes evident.
That which is weak defeats that which is strong.
Paul repeats this method to his letter to Corinth:
But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong…
David agrees.
With the immaterial (words) and the immature (the young), God meets the challenge of those that oppose Him.
They have a greater strength than that of God’s enemies when they take the name of God on their lips.
Consider for a moment how Gideon triumphed over the great army that was set against him and his people.
He along with 300 men took trumpets and clay pots and at the arranged signal they blew their trumpets and smashed their pots.
What a way to have a fight, right?
Smashing clay pots—that’s a winner of a strategy, isn’t it?
And what happened to the enemies?
The text tells us (Judges 7:22):
When they blew the 300 trumpets, the Lord set every man’s sword against his comrade and against all the army.
We celebrate the majesty of God because He works in unexpected, but effective ways.
III. The third reason we celebrate the majesty of God is His SKILL (3-4).
ILL Notebook: Expertise
Once upon a time there was a shepherd looking after his sheep on the edge of a deserted road. Suddenly a brand new Jeep Cherokee screeches to a halt next to him. The driver, a young man dressed in very expensive clothing gets out and asks the shepherd: “If I guess how many sheep you have, will you give me one of them?”
The shepherd looks at the young man, then looks at the sheep which graze and says: “All right.”
The young man parks the car, connects his computer notebook to the internet, and using satellite technology, enters a NASA site, then opens a database and 60 Excel tables filled with algorithms, then prints a 150-pages report on his high-tech mini-printer. He then turns to the shepherd and says: “You have exactly 1586 sheep here.”
The shepherd answers: “That’s correct, you can have your sheep.” The young man takes the sheep and puts it in the back of his jeep.
The shepherd looks at him and asks: “If I guess your profession, will you return my sheep to me?”
The young man answers: “Yes, why not.”
The shepherd says: “Are you a Consultant?”
The Young man says: “How did you know?”
The shepherd says: “Very simple, First, you come here without being called. Second, you charge me a sheep to tell me something I already knew. Third, you do not understand anything about what I do, because you took my dog.”
Well, the man may have been skilled with his technology, but he was still lacking, wasn’t he?
He did not have a knowledge that inspired respect and admiration.
In contrast, note David’s evaluation of God’s skill…
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, and the son of man that you care for him?
1. God is a master designer.
David did not have the advantages we have today.
He had only a tiny fraction of the evidence that is available today.
The vast reaches of the universe were unknown to him.
He never imagined anything like a ringed Saturn.
He knew nothing of the Milky Way and the countless galaxies.
But when he considered the heavens, he did see its beauty, complexity and brilliance.
He saw the clockwork precision that never deviated.
Yet, notice what David observes.
In reality, the heavens are tiny.
They are pushed and prodded and formed into shape by divine fingers.
To God, what is so immense to us, is nothing to him.
But follow this…
If the heavens are tiny to God, but they are immense to us, consider how tiny we must be!
So…
2. When we give consideration to the great expanse of creation, it is inconceivable that we have significance.
From an objective perspective, human beings are but the tiniest fragments in an immense and extensive universe.
It is inconceivable that God could remember each human being or give attention to each person.
But note these truths…
God is more interested in people than planets.
God is more interested in souls than stars.
God is more interested in us than He is in the universe.
So what He has created was not just some spontaneous activity.
God has not planned a meaningless or empty universe.
He has planned a home for His family.
This leads us to…
IV. The fourth reason we celebrate the majesty of God is STRATEGY (4-8).
…what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory 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 heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
1. We are created with a certain prestige (Genesis 1:27).
We are given a central position in creation.
And note how it is described.
In some translations, it says that we are created a little lower than the angels, but the word is not angels, but God.
We are a little lower than God.
This is a remarkable description.
For what it means is that God made man to be the expression of God’s life.
We are the human vehicle of divine life.
So you and I are the means by which the invisible God is made visible to His creatures.
Note how this is described in Genesis 1:
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
We are made in the image of God.
We have personality.
We have morality, a knowledge of right and wrong.
And, God has given us a position of extraordinary strength within the universe.
God has crowned us with glory and honor.
We have a majesty patterned after His own.
And…
2. We are given jurisdiction over the earth.
We are masters of the created order.
Though it may appear in the big picture of things that we are insignificant, we have been created to rule.
But we are not to rule haphazardly.
We rule under the authority of God, in the will of God and for the glory of God.
And when we do it like that, all is well.
We will worship and celebrate the majesty of God.
APPLICATION:
You know…
1. There is no greater privilege than being a servant and worshipper of God.
It doesn’t get any better than this.
I hope you understand that privilege this morning.
God has made it a natural thing to recognize Him.
Creation pours forth the speech.
And creation says, regardless of whether you believe or not, it is unnatural to live without Him.
But if you do believe today and you do recognize His work of grace in your life according to the love shown us through Jesus Christ, you can agree with the following statement:
2. God is a wonderful, amazing and awesome God, worthy of our praise.
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
BENEDICTION: [Counselors are ]
Celebrate His majesty…and be thankful that our Lord is above all, and that His ways do not fail; be thankful that what looks to be impossible is not when God is on our side; be thankful that what often looks like bitter defeat (like the cross), is really the prelude to ultimate victory.
Celebrate His majesty…
Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
