Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / July 21, 2024 | Summer in the Psalms - Psalm 8: The Glory of Creation

Transcript

July 21, 2024 | Summer in the Psalms - Psalm 8: The Glory of Creation · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  unknown: Morning.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Good to be with you.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: And uh it's also fun because we're wrapping up our Summer in the Psalm series this morning, at least for this summer.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: We've been through by the end of this morning, we'll have gone through eight psalms.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: And uh this this one that we're looking at is um kind of fun because the first seven have been, it's not like they're downers, but they have really been focused on sort of walking with God through hardship.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: And uh the psalms, sort of on a larger scale, are normally just known for their praise and and sort of giving God glory and adoration.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: And Psalm 8, we finally get to a psalm of praise.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so the this morning's psalm, there's basically like three movements that we're gonna work through.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: The first one is uh David is writing this, and he has been uh he's looking at the stars at night.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: And that is gonna draw him into sort of an awe and appreciation for what God has made.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: And then, second, um, he's going to basically take that and he's going to say, Yeah, you are so amazing, and you have made all of this.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the heavens declare your majesty.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Who am I?
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Who am I that you would ever care for me?
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Who is humanity, like uh the mankind, that you would make us, right?
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Even though you have made this beautiful creation.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then third, and really this is actually the bigger part of the psalm, is he goes, and I understand that you have given humanity the responsibility of caring for that creation, and that draws me even deeper into worship.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: So that's kind of the three movements, and then we have a little something at the end that kind of where this psalm takes us today.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: But we'll start at the, like I said, we're in Psalm chapter 8, verse 1, and it begins by saying, Lord our Lord, how magnificent is your name throughout the earth.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: You have covered the heavens with your majesty from the mouths of infants and nursing babies.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: You have established a stronghold on account of your adversaries in order to silence the enemy and the avenger.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: So to start right off, this Lord our Lord, I normally don't do the whole, like, yeah, it's different in Hebrew or Greek, unless it makes a difference to the text.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: And here it does.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you see, when we translate uh the various words and other languages uh into English, sometimes we use, we translate a number of them the exact same because we don't have as many words for it.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: And one of those is Lord.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so David here, as he's writing, he uses two different Hebrew words for Lord, and you'll see in a moment why that's significant.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: The first one is the personal name of God.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: We would normally say Yahweh, right?
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: This is the name that God revealed to Israel as his personal uh sort of name and declaration, right?
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: His proper name is not God.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it is this uh word that we, and I say that we try and say, we actually don't know how to pronounce the name of God.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: He gave it to us without vowels, um, but we normally say Yahweh.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Anyhow, that's the first Lord here.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's a very specific declaration of who we're talking to.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: This is the known and revealed God of the universe.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then secondly, he says, our Lord, he uses the word Adonai, which means king or master or ruler.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so he's like, as he's going to have David is going to have this psalm about all of creation, he's sort of proclaiming the one to whom he is the great creator, and also that that great creator is also the ruler of this creation.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so as he leans in there, he says, How magnificent is that name, is your name.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: We're now seeing that God's nature, his divine presence, is revealed personally through what we see that he has created.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so for David, uh, we'll see later on in the passage, he's specifically looking up at the stars at night.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: He's seeing the moon, he's seeing the stars, so the celestial bodies in their perfectly timed order as they're going around, and he's going, wow, God, this is amazing.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so David in this particular example is going, the moon and the stars, they proclaim your specific divine name.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: You are the creator, you are the ruler.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: You have covered the heavens with your majesty, and when he speaks of heavens there, he is, he's talking about kind of the sky.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but we know God has created everything.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: He has created not just what we see, but also what we can't see.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: There's a whole nether realm, the supernatural realm, that God has made as well.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's the more properly the heavenly realms, right?
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: But it is where God is in spirit, it is the angelic beings and all such things like that, the confusing parts of Revelation.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: And you're like, where's that?
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: We don't see it.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, God has made all of those things too.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so all of this is part of David's reflection.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, just like we would marvel at an amazing painter who can draw out emotion using oil and pigment, or some sculptor who can make marble look like lace with their skill, there's an element of God's creation that we are intended to reflect upon, that it shows us his unlimited power and divinity.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: Romans talks about that, that God's creation can tell us these things specifically.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but there's this kind of this interesting part where it says, from the mouths of infants and nursing babies, right?
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: You have established a stronghold on account of your adversaries in order to silence the enemy and the avenger.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: People don't really know what to make of that.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um there's uh there's a bit of debate over what it means.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: I think the most helpful clue uh actually comes later on in one of the Gospels, in the book of Matthew, Jesus quotes this.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: He quotes this passage, and I think when we look at that, we get a really good idea of what uh David was speaking of here.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: Because keeping in mind, like the reason that apparently infants and babies are proclaiming things is a reflection of God's creation, or what he has done, or his power.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Matthew 28, verses 14 through 16 say, The blind and the lame came to Jesus in the temple, and he healed them.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: When the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonders that he did, and the children shouting in the temple, Hosanna to the son of David, they were indignant and said to him, Do you hear what these children are saying?
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like, shouldn't you, you know, hate that?
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus replied, Yes.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Have you never read, You have prepared praise from the mouths of infants and nursing babies.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: So what's happening here?
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: What's happening is Jesus is performing miracles, he's doing wondrous things in the temple.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: Scribes and the Pharisees are like, These shouldn't mix with each other.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: We don't like this.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Don't you have a problem with it?
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: And David is saying that the praise of the children, that he is the son of David, and really this is like kind of a significant claim about who Jesus is.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just that, like, his great, great, great, great, you know.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it is talking about his role, his divine role.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that Jesus is saying rather, like, don't you hear the kids?
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so, maybe in the way that we would use it and kind of like phrasing in our language today is we'd say, like, from the mouth of babes.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that normally young children, in that sort of innocence and truth and purity in what they share, sometimes they call us like fat and wrinkly, okay?
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: But alternatively, there are times where they say great truths that aren't working through the filter that adults have, right?
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: And there is just a, like I said, a purity to their reflection.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: And in this case, what David is saying, I believe, is that in the mouths of these young children, right, that are lifting up praise to the Lord, because maybe they don't have the entire framework to understand what is happening or all about God as the creator, but their love and appreciation for what he has made, it is like an arrow against God's enemies.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: Or rather, it's as a stronghold, which would be like a fortress, that enemies cannot assail it.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: The first lesson that we really take away from Psalm 8 this morning is that God's majesty is seen through his creation all around us, and the Lord takes special delight in the praise of children who recognize his wondrous works.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: I was thinking about this this past week because um we were on vacation in Sarasota, Florida, and Dan got to, uh my son Dan, he got to see the beach like for the first time, and he had an amazing experience.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: He loved the beach more than anybody else did.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, it was just really beautiful to see him.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the moment he we had been talking about the beach and what was going to happen at the beach and what he was gonna see at the beach, and then as he's walking towards it, you know, getting his reaction and all these things.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like, Dan does not understand that God has made the beach and he has made the ocean and all of these things.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yet his wonder and amazement I think brings glory to God because he has this, it's not tinged, you know, like all the adults over there were like, do we have all the sunscreen on?
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Do we have the umbrella up?
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: Do we did we forget this stuff?
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: I've got sand in my, you know, sandals, and it's just sticky, and all this kind of stuff.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just pure, right?
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: I think that there's beauty in what God has made through these things, and really this is part of what David is saying is that there should be a total wonder and reflection upon God's creation that makes us just stand and go, wow.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: As we continue on, uh, we see now, like I had said, David is looking at the sky, the night sky.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: When I observe your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you set in place, here's the question: What is a human being that you remember him, God?
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: A son of man that you look after him.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: Do you remember um, I think it was 2006, when the first Planet Earth documentary series came out?
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um obviously there were nature documentaries before that.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: Planet Earth was the first one to do it in high definition.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: And it took them five years to film this.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um I got this on DVD, and I remember watching it over and over again.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: And there was something about, particularly this series, that struck me because there was a scale that they were able to capture that I had never really witnessed in my life before.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um there's uh numerous episodes, but one of them they capture three million caribou migrating.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: There's another one in Africa where 1.5 billion birds are on camera as they are also passing through the savannah.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: And there's sort of a scale that you just kind of almost get desensitized to.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like I would I would watch episode after episode, and I remember thinking, like, I need to stop because I have I have sort of ceased to be amazed.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just expecting that they're gonna show me millions and billions of animals that are doing things I've never seen before, right?
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: There is a scale to God's kingdom that is beyond our imagination and conception.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: And David is witnessing that in this case when he's looking at the sun, the moon, the stars, right?
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but we can see it anywhere we go.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: You go to the Grand Canyon, you go to the top of a mountain, you just look out at the endless flint hills and just understand that God has made all of it, right?
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so when you when you think of it in that way, in this sort of vast um understanding that we haven't even seen all of it or explored all of it, and that's just the stuff that's visible, and then David begins to reflect kind of telescope back in on himself, and he's going now, who am I?
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm this guy probably sitting somewhere outside on my palace in Jerusalem, in this nation, in this globe, and you know, and I am one person, I am one beating heart that is witnessing all of these things.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like, God, who am I that you would ever consider me, think of me?
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: And yet the revelation uh that God has given to us is that it is not just, oh, I know you, or I know of you, but I have made you individually, right?
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: And that for David and for all of us, that we are known personally, we are loved individually, and that God cares for us specifically, right?
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: That even though his kingdom is beyond all measure, that he has particular care for every single person in it.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: And how just staggering that is, right?
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so as we're looking at these things, David uses some language though to describe that.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um when he says, what is a human being that you remember him?
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: There are a couple words he could use in Hebrew uh that could that we would translate as like human or mankind or something, and he uses the lowest form.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: It it gives this idea of um frailty, of weakness, of actually mortality.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so what David is doing is it's like he's drawing this huge gulf between us and God's, even though we're a part of God's creation, like his wondrous nature, and then it's little us, little old me.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's what David is doing here.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so the when he says that you remember him, it is drawn into even higher elevation because he is going such a like a weak mortal like I am.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: But then if you've been around church for a little bit, you might have noticed that phrase son of man, which is the second way that he describes humanity.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's a different way, um, but it's also a humble term.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: But we are most familiar with it because this is one of the phrases that Jesus uses to describe himself.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: He picks up kind of this moniker and he will refer to himself as the son of man.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so we might want to take that back into Psalm 8 and go, oh, okay, well, maybe this is a term of prestige or honor.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: Really, it's the opposite.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: Psalm 8 is not about Jesus, it is another term, son of man of humility.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: Basically, David is saying, it's literally been a dam, like it is the son of man, and he is going, like, I am just one of many.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: I am my father's son.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: I am like, I am another and a long line of those who are going to basically just disappear like mist or wither like the grass in the sun.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so later on, actually, when Jesus picks up this term, he is referencing and using its humility to describe himself.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: Gives even deeper meaning to that.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: But all that to say, David, at this point, he's like, Who am I, right?
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: Who am I that you would do this for me, Lord?
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um the second lesson that we draw from this then is though we are all small in comparison to God's creation, we were all individually known and loved by the same creator.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's easy to have these kinds of thoughts about ourselves.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody knows me, I'm insignificant, nobody cares about me, um, I'm not important.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: And what scripture tells us is um are we small?
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, very small, in fact.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but are we unimportant?
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: No, not at all.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, you are so important, you are so loved, you are so cared for that God sent his son to die on the cross for your sins individually.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, for everybody, but for you individually too.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, if you're a student of history, you might think of great empires and kingdoms where they fall eventually because their borders get too large and they're unable to control it, and there's rebellion and all of these things.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: And that's just even a portion of the map, right?
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: Where the people on the fringes have never seen the king, never known the king, never even heard him speak.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: They have dealt with an administrator of an administrator of a whatever down the flow chart, and they are simply a number to this king.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: And yet what we know in God's kingdom is that even though it is far beyond all of our imagination, he has knitted us together in our mother's womb, right?
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: He has made us individually with and for a purpose.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so there's never been a time where you should ever think or think in the future that you are unimportant.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: You are important to God.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: He loves you and knows you personally and individually, and though the world might say otherwise, you have his care and his oversight.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: God is with you at all times.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: So that's kind of the second movement here in Psalm 8.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: We we reflect on the majesty of God and then kind of how that makes us feel small, but then recognize that God does uh care for us and love us.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: But now as we move into verses 5 through 8, this is the main part of Psalm 8, um, we're going to see that God has actually given us responsibility.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: And that responsibility is that we are supposed to care for that majestic creation.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: And that is a position of glory and honor that gives us a great sense of accountability.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: You made him little less than God, and what he's talking about there is humanity in general.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: You made humanity little less than God and crowned him with glory and honor.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: You made him ruler over the works of your hands.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: You put everything under his feet, all the sheep and oxen, as well as all the animals in the wild, the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea that pass through the currents of the seas.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um what he's saying here at the beginning is he's establishing kind of where we are basically in the created pecking order.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: And he uses the phrase little less than God, and um, this is just another one of those times that there's probably a better way that that could have been translated.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: The word is Elohim.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: If you've read the Unseen Realm or been any of the Bible studies around church here that have studied that, your ears are perked, but for everybody else, which is totally fine, it basically translated normally as like angels.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: Angelic beings, heavenly beings.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: So this is not to say, like, obviously, we we are lower than God.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: The distinction that is made is that in God's created order, there's like God, and then there is what he has created, which would be the heavenly beings and angels, and everything that is sort of supernatural, and then what is visible, which would be us and everything else, um, but that there is kind of a separation between humanity, humankind, and then all the other things he lists here, the sheep and the ox and the animals and the wild.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: So there's kind of like four levels God, angelic beings, humanity, and then the rest of creation.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, 1 Corinthians 6 does tell us that uh part of our transformation uh when Jesus returns is that we will actually go above the angels in that priority order, but that's for another time.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh right now, we're below them.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so what this is saying is this is not kind of in any way supposed to be a diminishment of humanity, right?
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: David's whole point is rather that we have been lifted up.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you look at Genesis 1, humans are made on the same day as the land animals.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so as we look at that, just the way that story is constructed, what you would expect is then we're kind of in equality with them.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: But yet God distinctly makes humans in his own image.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: We are divine image bearers, and then we are given responsibility, great responsibility, in fact.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: Genesis 1, 27 through 28.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: So God created man in his own image.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: He created him in the image of God, he created them, male and female.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: What's the role?
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and those first couple were just like, sounds great.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: One we don't often think about, and subdue it, rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: So, first of all, we are made in the image of God.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: That is a whole sermon in and of itself, but essentially what it means is not that we physically look like God, but that through the authority that He has granted us as being image bearers, through our activity that God enables us to do, there is a way that we are carrying out His will upon the earth that brings glory and honor to it, not because of us, but because we are reflecting the King.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so, furthermore, that when we carry out God's will to the best of our abilities, and in this case, as David's saying, when we subdue and rule over creation, we are making a sign of what God would do and ultimately how the world around us can see him, can see the great creator.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: So being image bearers means we're kind of like representatives of the king.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: We have authority instilled by him.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the CEO, we're the store manager, okay?
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: And there's an expectation that we would use that authority in a way that shows responsibility and accountability.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: But then we get to the job itself.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: And what we're talking about here in Psalm 8, and it's obvious that David is either has in sort of his mind or is reading Genesis 1 as he's writing this, because so much of the words, so many of the words are identical.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: He says, subdue it, rule it.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: Psalm 8 uses the specific phrase that God has placed everything under our feet.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so what this is talking about is that we have been given authority by God to ultimately rule creation.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually military words, but to rule creation just like a king would rule his kingdom, and that we can use that authority as we see fit to ultimately guide that creation.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: However, and this is a very big however, that is not an unlimited level of authority.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, it is authority given with a specific purpose, just like God could pluck up any king that is not carrying out his will or doing as he desires, right?
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: God has a desire for us to be treating his creation as image bearers the same way that God would treat his creation.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: So what I'm saying is that we are to love creation the same way that God loves creation.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: You with me?
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so just as God exercises authority, right, we also have authority over it given to us by him.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: But the purpose of that authority is then to make creation flourish and grow and to be beautiful just as God would have it, not to squeeze it as much as possible for personal gain or to abuse it to our own liking, right?
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: This is when we have failed in our responsibility, is when we don't treat God's creation as his image bearers, the way that God would want us to treat his creation.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so, as David highlights this in Psalm 8, he brings up, first of all, his sheep and oxen.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: He just starts talking about examples of the things that we have authority over.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, a really good example of what this looks like when done well is you can talk about all the Kansas ranchers, right?
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: Think of a rancher who has a large herd.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: He knows that they need to be well fed and well cared for so that they would grow fast and be healthy.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: They need to be maintained so they can stave off disease.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: They need the the rancher needs to manage grazing habits.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: He needs to protect the cattle from bugs and predators.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: He needs to use wisdom during the breeding process so that the calving season goes the way it should.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like there's so there takes, first of all, so much intelligence and wisdom to be a good farmer or a rancher.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: But this is the kind of stewardship that God is talking about.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: That we would be caring for his creation in a way that is wise and respectful so that, and you would notice that when creation does well, in this case, the the cattle, the farmer and the rancher does well also.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so this is different than maybe some perspectives about creation where it's just, it's for my needs, right?
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's for my personal gain.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's short-sighted to say that.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: Creation is something that was given to us as a gift, and in fact, the responsibility of caring for it is, as David would say, worthy of glory and honor.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: That really God has given us this mantle and this job title that is special and deserving of recognition, but not because we are special and deserving of recognition, because God gave us this great gift.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: So we need to manage that gift well.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: Lesson three is we have a responsibility to care for God's creation as image bearers of the king and creator.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: Neglecting or abusing that responsibility means we have failed to use our authority well.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: So we were created with and for a purpose, and part of that role, it's not exhaustive, but part of that role as image bearers in God's kingdom is that we would look after his earthly creation in a way that isn't abusive or selfish.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so this is animals, plants, fields, rivers, oceans, forests, birds of the air, fish in the sea, all of the above, right?
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: This is what David is talking about.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so there's a great sort of um accountability given to us that we would use the authority given by God in a way that is pleasing to God.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: This is part of Psalm 8 and part of David's reflection.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: If we can kind of recap now Psalm 8, you'll see the movement, right?
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: So in the first sense, God's majesty is seen through his creation all around us.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: That inspires wonder.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: And then we are all small in comparison to God's creation and really the magnitude of it, yet still deeply loved.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: That inspires humility.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then third, we have a responsibility to then care for that creation that God gave to us as a job, and that inspires accountability.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: All of these things are working together, and all of them are part of David's praise.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: As he concludes Psalm 8, he, you might notice, repeats verse 1 Lord our Lord, how magnificent is your name throughout the earth.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: What's unique, other than the fact that he just kind of has Psalm 8 in bookends that are the exact same, is that the understanding of those words has now changed from verse 1.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: In verse 1, it is how magnificent is your name throughout the earth, and we are just talking about the Creator God, but now as we've moved through the psalm, still how magnificent is your name throughout the earth.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: But we understand that part of that magnificence, as crazy it is to under to see this, is that we are enabled as image bearers by our God and King to carry out his will as stewards of creation, and that our ability to do that well reflects back upon him, tells people about God, and ultimately gives us glimpses of what creation was like in the very beginning.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: It is fulfilling and ultimately it is satisfying when we are able to do what God has asked us to do, to love his creation as he loves his creation.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: Or at least that should be the case, right?
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever had a boss that made you want to quit your job?
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, or maybe you're like, I've got one right now.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um we are the boss, and creation works for us.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: And creation wants to quit, okay?
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the Bible talks about creation, and sometimes it uh writers will personify it, like give sort of an identity to creation as if it's an individual, to be able to describe in general the way that it works and the way that it feels when we interact with it.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the things that the Bible also tells us, this is way back in Genesis, is Adam and Eve were given that amazing responsibility in chapter one.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: But just a couple chapters later, sin has entered into the world.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: They have rebelled against God, and God is bringing a curse upon the world, uh, a punishment because of this sin, right?
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: And while we normally think of that sin and how it affects us, and spiritually, physically, emotionally, all of those things, how it certainly affects our relationship with God and the inability to have one absent the blood of Christ.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: One way we don't often think of it is that creation was impacted by our sin.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact, this is a huge part of the curse, is that God looks to them, looks to Adam and Eve, and says, You had a job to do, and now your job is actually much harder because creation isn't going to respond the way that you would expect it to.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_00: It is going to be much more difficult to draw food out of the ground.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_00: It is not, it's going to be a labor some toil for you to do what I've asked you to do.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's not going to be easy.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: And furthermore, that creation was subjected to this futility, this weakness by God, such that it is still groaning with anticipation for renewal even to this day.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: As the writer, or as Paul says in his letter to the Romans, for creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God's sons to be revealed.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_00: For the creation was subjected to futility or weakness, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in the hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage to decay into the glorious freedom of God's children.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so when God's image bearers rebelled against him as king, it did not just affect them, but it affected all of creation.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: In such a way that creation, again receiving an identity, is described like a pregnant woman, that she is waiting with anticipation for basically things to not be so painful, and that they are looking forward to a time when basically the baby is here, when what they have been hoping for has finally arrived.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God's sons to be revealed.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's talking about, you could say sons and daughters.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's just talking about God's people when Christ returns and everything is made new, that we are waiting for a period of time when finally we carry out God's will as we should, right?
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: That creation is waiting for us to do it right.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: And that creation is eagerly waiting with this with anticipation because there is a future coming where, like, you have to understand, this role that God gave to us to be stewards of his glorious creation is a job title given before the fall of mankind.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: It is a good thing, and there's every reason to believe there is going to be a huge connection between that responsibility and what we will be doing when we are in heaven.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: That is creation, there's a new heavens and a new earth, and our earth, like this one, is restored and renewed, and creation is stripped finally of the disease and the infection that we have brought to it because of our sin, and is actually able to flourish and grow and respond to our activity as it should.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: These are the things that creation is waiting for, for things to finally be as they should have been back in the garden.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact, that they were for a period of time in the Garden of Eden.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_00: Creation was subjected to futility, though, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_00: So creation is suffering under the weight of mankind's sin.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_00: And it was a decision made by God as punishment for our rebellion.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: But creation isn't the only one suffering.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: As I've already said, we suffer as well because it is more difficult for us to carry out our job.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_00: All of this ties into Psalm 8 because it is just a cycle of reflection that David is going through.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, You're majestic, I'm small, you've given me a job to care for, you're a majestic creation.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: And yet, as we look at it in these new ways and understand how it is in reality today, because of sin, it drives us back more and more into God's presence.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: We know as we go outside, as beautiful as it is today, you know, and this goes for any place that you would go and just be in wonder at God's creation, even still the most beautiful things you have witnessed are infected by sin.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: And they will be more glorious when Christ returns.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_00: That God subjected creation to all of these things in the hope, and God, that word would be used because God knows what is coming.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: That the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage to decay into the glorious freedom of God's children.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_00: When Jesus was here on earth about 2,000 years ago, right, um, his ministry revealed a number of things about God's plan for humanity that would be entirely fulfilled when Jesus returned a second time.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_00: There were some things that Jesus gave us a taste of, that God gave us a taste of, that made us yearn for his coming kingdom.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_00: One of those things we actually looked at earlier.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_00: Remember the the mouths and of uh babies and children are giving you praise passage in Matthew?
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, well, Jesus was healing the blind and the lame.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_00: And ultimately we know that he brought people back from the dead and defeated death himself once and for all.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_00: What those things represent are all examples of broken creation where things are not as they should be, and that Jesus was renewing them and setting them right.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so as we see that, and again, like I said ultimately, that he defeats death through his resurrection and is alive today, it's not like Lazarus, where he died again, he is alive today, that he has taken the greatest enemy of creation, which is death, and has put it under his feet.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so, what that means for us and what this passage is saying is part of this anticipation, being set free from the bondage to decay and to the glorious freedom of God's children, is we are waiting for a time when Christ returns, not only so that we will be redeemed and receive our new glorious bodies, and have a full and comprehensive relationship with God through the blood of Christ, because we have been forgiven of our sins, but also that as we are experiencing eternity, that part of God's creation will include the natural environment, and that that relationship will be renewed as well.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_00: So many things to look forward to in the new heavens and new earth, and one of them is that it will be easier to grow tomatoes, okay, than it is now.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_00: As it finishes, it says, For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now, right?
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so Paul is describing where it is today.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: Creation is groaning, right?
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: She is wanting us to do our job well.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_00: But because of sin, because of specific things that we choose to do in selfish selfishness and pride, it's causing her pain.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so, what are we supposed to do with this, right?
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_00: Well, first of all, the fourth and final lesson is that creation is waiting for Jesus too.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_00: When he returns, humans will reign with Christ in a new kingdom where we will actually do the job that God assigned us.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: That we will actually do the job that we were supposed to be doing even right now.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_00: But having said that, this is not just a wait for the future kind of thing.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_00: You and I still have a responsibility in the world right now, Psalm 8, because God has subdued creation, has given us the power to subdue creation, to rule over it, and he has placed it under our feet.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_00: And though there is a more, uh there's a greater fulfillment of that in the future, we still have day jobs, right?
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_00: This is part of our responsibility and accountability as being made as part of creation over the other things that God has made in the world around us.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so the first thing that we can do is, I think there's two.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_00: The first thing that we can do is that as soulmate would have us, we would just continually go back into that cycle of reflection on what it means to understand the majesty of God, realize how small we are, and yet we were given this amazing responsibility.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_00: And as we sort of continue to walk through that over and over again, it draws us closer to God as we understand really how uh poorly we are doing and how desperately we need his guidance and wisdom.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_00: But also it just makes us appreciate the creator of the universe that he, in his, remember, love would say, Yeah, you know, the mountains and the forests and the streams and the fish and the deer and the all of the things, I give them to you as a gift to take care of and to watch over and to help grow and to flourish.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_00: But the second thing and the final thing is if creation is like a pregnant woman, let's rub her feet a little bit, okay?
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like, there are things that we can be doing now.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_00: And look, uh the point of my message here is not everybody needs to drive a Tesla.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's not what this sermon is, okay?
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_00: But rather, I want you to have a heart for God's creation right now.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to understand your role.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to understand your responsibility, and I want you to understand that this is part of the accountability that God has given to us by having this power.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so this sort of like flippant nature that, you know, the environment, that what is around us, that animals and all those things are just there to serve us, right?
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_00: And ultimately to draw as much out of them as we can so that we might profit is an unbiblical attitude to have.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_00: The way that you work through that then is up for debate.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_00: But the concept that we are to care for God's creation is not up for debate.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so we need to keep in mind that there is a future that is coming where all of these things are made new.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: But I want to leave you with one final thought, which is that in those moments where things are really as good as they get in this world, I mean, I can think of just some places around Topeka, some of the maybe some of the gardens that we have over at Lake Shawnee or Gage Park, or and I know some of you have some beautiful homes, the farmers and the ranchers that we've already talked about, who are bringing things in season and out of season.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like when we are taking care of creation as it should be done, there is a glimpse of heaven in that.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_00: There is a glimpse of God's divine kingdom that is not tainted by sin.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_00: And it's way harder than it should be right now.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_00: In the future, that is one of the beautiful things about eternal about heaven, is that things won't be as difficult.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but rather that we can get a glimpse, it's a dusty image of what God has intended for creation when we are good stewards of what He has given to us.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're somebody who thinks about those things and goes, never had a green thumb, don't like touching the dirt, not part of my thing, right?
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_00: You can still appreciate what it means when you see those things and draw yourself back into uh, I would say, worship of who God is and what he has done.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_00: We should love creation because God loves it first and he has given us a responsibility to it.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_00: This is what David was thinking when he was looking up at the moon and the stars that night.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, we thank you for today.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, I know that this message was maybe a little bit different than the kind that we typically have, and I thank you that you have made our, as you have uh created us with and for a purpose, Lord, that it is so beautifully complex in all of its ways, that you have given us something to strive for for the rest of our lives, knowing that we will never fully arrive in a completed state, God, until Christ returns.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, we still see eagerly seek to grow and to follow your will more closely.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, we want you to transform us into the Son of Man.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_00: Transform us into Jesus Christ, who did all of these things perfectly, who carried out the job that you have given to humanity perfectly.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_00: And Lord, that He died perfect on the cross for our sins, so that we might be able to have a relationship with you if we would trust in you.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_00: God, I thank you for the accountability, the responsibility that you've given to us.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_00: As David says, Lord, it is a position of glory and honor.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for that.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_00: We recognize that we are small, Lord, but yet important in your eyes.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_00: And as we wrestle with what that means to be beloved individually by the Creator of the universe, I just ask that you would help us by your Spirit to draw deeper and deeper into worship of you.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, you are good.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_00: You are kind to us, far better than we ever deserve.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_00: And we thank you for these things in Jesus' name.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_00: Love you.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_00: See you next week.