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Psalm 8. Oh Lord, our Lord, how
majestic is your name in all the earth. You have set your
glory above the heavens. From the lips of children and
infants, you have ordained praise. Because of your enemies, to silence
the foe and the avenger. When I consider 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. You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honour. You made him ruler over
the works of your hands. You put everything under his
feet, all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the
birds of the air and the fish of the sea, all that swim the
paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic
is your name in all the earth. We've read a psalm this morning. I don't know if you often read
psalms, but what you'll find if you read the psalms is that
they cover many, many different topics, and not only that, but
they pick up lots of different emotions. Sometimes the psalmist
is extremely joyous and shouting for all he's worth and asking
the drums to bang away as well to add to the sound, and other
times he's weeping and lamenting and sometimes complaining, all
kinds of things that come out in the psalms. And so some people
read some psalms every day or a psalm every day because they
cover so many different things. But the thing about the psalms
is that they all speak from within confidence in God. It's very
interesting. And so we all have to live in
the world. Sometimes we're sick, sometimes
we're well, sometimes we're happy, sometimes we're sad. Sometimes
there's responsibilities, almost all we can manage, or more than
we can manage. Sometimes people are telling
lies about us behind our back. All kinds of things happen. And
what's important is not just that those things happen, but
you're able to see those things from God's point of view. And
the psalms don't always start off that way, but they always
end up that way. It's interesting. If you're angry,
for example, today, whatever you do, don't not go to God. Go to God angry. If you're upset
and anxious, don't wait until you're feeling okay to go to
God. Go right now. and think your problem out in
God's presence, and you'll be amazed at how understanding He
is. And that's what the Psalms are. They're basically people
in all situations of life coming to God. And here's a person who's
dealing with the world. The Psalms have got a lot to
do with the world, and so I've actually called this God and
Us and the World. It's very helpful to think about
God and us in the world, because this is talking about how majestic
is your name in all the earth. That means it wouldn't matter
if you're in Scotland, it wouldn't matter if you're in Afghanistan,
it wouldn't matter if you're in America, it wouldn't matter
where you were. It says all the earth, so it's actually talking
about how majestic is your name in all the earth. It's talking
about later on, it talks about the moon and the stars, and then
it talks about all the sheep and the oxen. So it's a creation
psalm in a way, talking about the creation. But not just about
the creation, but about our place in the creation. But it not only
talks about that, but it also talks about enemies. He says,
out of the mouth of babes and infants you have established
strength because of your foes. to still, that is to make quiet
the enemy and the avenger. So here we're talking about a
world, not just the one that God made, but the one we're trying
to make. And you always know when we're trying to make something
because we're angry when we can't get it. You look at an angry
person, and you're looking at a person who can't get what they
want. True? And so everybody wants something,
and so they can't get it. Unless they know their son, they'll
get angry. But here it's talking about the
people God's stilling, that is, making them quiet, saying, there,
there, lie down. Not quiet, but he's actually
saying, I will bring all the hostility in the world to an
end. So when talking about the world, we're talking just about
nature, we're talking about the heavens, we're talking about
the animals that we're responsible for, but we're also talking about
the enemies that fight against us. We're really talking about
the world, aren't we? The world we have to go to school
in. where we have to work in, where we have to get our income
from, from the government. We're talking about the world
as it actually is and our place in it. So it's fairly significant.
And God says his name is majestic in all the earth. Now that's
not exactly what the world thinks because the world thinks that
God in fact is absent. In fact he doesn't even exist,
the world just happened. either by a big bang or according
to some scientists, it always has existed eternally, it never
was not. So the world doesn't see it that
way, but this psalm is actually saying that God's glory, now
if you look at the word glory, it actually means something that's
shining bright, but it actually means a revelation of God, not
just God, who's glorious, but the shining out of God so he
can be seen. So God says, you can see me.
It's interesting, isn't it? He's made his glory, he's established
his glory above the heavens. In other words, it's higher than
anything. He's not referring to in heaven
where he lives. He's talking about the heavens
where the sun and moon are. And he says, I've established
my glory above the heavens. In other words, if you think
the heavens are high, you haven't seen anything yet. You know, we talk
about how many light years away some stars are. Well, God's greater
than that. You know, His glory is greater
than that, and it's not only greater than that, but it's evident.
It's quite interesting. Now the world says, as I said,
that God can't be seen or proved. Rather, it actually says He's
irrelevant, in fact, or worse than that again, He's an opiate. You know what an opiate is, it's
what you take drugs, it's what you take to blot the world out
so you can just have a good time on a weekend. Well I hope you
don't, but nonetheless it's what some people do. They take opiates
or drugs of some kind to actually blot themselves out and so forth. So they're saying, some people
say that God is an opiate. He puts people to sleep so they
don't deal with real problems. That's what communism used to
say, that religion is the opiate of the people. Have you heard
that statement? That's what the communists were saying years
ago, and that they were all about pie
in the sky when you die by and by, and they weren't interested
in changing the world now. So that's what the world thinks,
it really does, and they are the people who are the enemies,
and that not only the enemies, did you notice here, they are
the avengers. It's interesting, isn't it? If
people don't believe in God, they can't just go on not believing
in God, they have to take on the people who do. Are you noticing
that happening now? It's not just that people say,
oh, you go to church. They say, you go to church? Do
you follow what I mean? There's an implication of guilt
that somehow or another, do you see that the world that doesn't
believe in God actually becomes the enemy of God? They become
avengers of the people. That is, they want to take some
action against the people who I think are doing wrong. They're
putting people to sleep when they should be busy trying to
change the world. Do you follow? That's really what the psalm's
talking about. So it really is talking about the world we're
living in, isn't it? This psalm. And God says, in the midst of
all of that, so I'm just giving you a summary of what the whole
psalm's about, and then we can go back and look at it and see
how it works out. The enemy in the Avengers, God
says, in the midst of them, he's established his strength. So
if the world is standing up and saying, you Christians have got
it all wrong, and the God-believers are just a bunch of no-hopers
who sit in churches and hold their hands and hope everything
will work out alright, but don't actually do anything to change
the world. And God says, no, I've established strength in
the midst of my enemies. Now I like that, don't you? How has he done it? In the mouths
of babes and infants. Now that's quite interesting. That's something that I don't
know about you, but that's what I really want to happen. I want
to see God's strong hand, don't you? Because I don't like the
fact that my face, your face, is being attacked And I'd like
God to do something about it. And God says, yes, Grant, yes. Out of your mouth. Babes and
infants, that's a synonym for Christians, not just little children. We'll see how that works out
as we go along. So that's what it's about. You can go home if
you really like, because that's edition one. Now we're going
to look at, see what it actually says as we go through. How is
this so? I like that old Julius Sumner
Miller program way back in my youth, the science program. And so he'd talk about something
that happened in welding. Why is it so? I like that question. How is it so? Well, let's have
a look and see if we can work out how this works out, because
as I say, it's very important, isn't it? Well, how is God's
name majestic in all the earth? It doesn't seem to be. Many people
say, not only is it not so, God's name looks actually not only
weak but irrelevant and not even true. So how is God's name majestic
in all the earth? The world won't acknowledge it.
They won't acknowledge God because he can't be subjected to our
scrutiny and our proof. I have a friend in our family
who is not a Christian, and he's very quite knowledgeable, and
he says, I'm just interested in facts. Facts. Science is his whole world, and
he's a very good scientist, in fact. And so if it can't be subjected,
and that was Bertrand Russell, who's very strong about that
thing, but if it can't be proved to be factual, then it doesn't
exist, it's not there. So miracles don't happen. There's
no such thing according to Bertrand Russell and many people that
live today. And the reason is because God cannot be subjected
to our scrutiny and proof. We'd like to be in the upper
hand, looking down our microscopes. not up at Him. Do you follow? The direction of looking is very
important there. We want everything to be under
us, subject to our scrutiny. But God's not like that. He's
not subject to our scrutiny. He's not subject to our proof. He just is, and He doesn't feel
He has to be subject to our scrutiny or to our proof. In fact, God
is clearly evident in the things that have been made. That's what
Paul says in Romans, isn't it? The things that have been, that
exist, are clear evidence of God's eternal power and deity. That's the facts that he is.
If any of you are interested, type into your web search at
home, Sinclair Ferguson and Proofs of God, probably, and you might
get a talk. And if you can't find it, then
I'll send you the link. There's a very, very helpful
talk by a guy called Sinclair Ferguson, no double letters,
F-E-R-G-U-S-O-N. Sinclair Ferguson, and he just
simply talks about the fact that the world can't see that there
is a God and where the atheists really are placed and what God
says about them. It's a very helpful article and
helpful for young people in particular. So if you can't find that link,
tell me afterwards and I'll send it to you. But the fact is we
can look at the world and God says, you know, And we say, no
we don't. And God says, yes you know. And
the point here is that the last day, when we actually die, and
we're actually in God's presence, nobody will say, oh but it wasn't
clear enough. And my schoolteacher at Scotland
Valley, the old teacher, said so-and-so and so-and-so because
I didn't have a chance. And God said, nobody will say
that because when we see God we'll know we knew. We're kidding ourselves if we
say we didn't know. God says we do, and on the last
day we'll know that we did. We can look at the skies and
the immensity of them, and we can look at the natural world,
because it says here, when I look at the heavens, the work of your
fingers, the moon and the stars which you set in place, And then
he talks about that. And then he says, you have given
us dominion over the works of your hands, things you've put
under his feet, sheep, ox, and beasts of the field. It's interesting, if we don't
have this truth, we can't tell the difference between animals
and ourselves. That's happening. And the reason is because we
need a God to tell us we're greater than animals. Logic won't do
it. It should be obvious enough,
but God tells us that we've got responsibility for the animals.
We're not just one with them, we are over them. We can look
at the skies, we can look at the natural world, and we see
that they're behind all this as a creator. So I like to say
that when David Attenborough comes on, and if I've got nothing
else to watch, I might watch David Attenborough, and he conducts
family worship for me. And he's saying, evolution, evolution,
and I'm saying, God, God, God, and I'm saying, you beaut, come
on Attenborough, tell me another one, tell me another one, it's
great. Don't you think? He's a marvellous photographer,
he had working for him, didn't he? to find out all these little
intricacies of the creation, and so behind all things is a
creator. What can be known about God is
plain to them, but the world's got a vested interest in there
being no God, because frankly, if God can make everything...
I mean, just think about that. If it's true, everything. Anything you make, you start
with something. But if you start with nothing, what can you make? God made everything. And you
think of all the detail. You think of the immensity. And
you think of the microscopity. Is that a word? No, I don't know.
You think of the smallness of things, that's better. So small,
and so big. And if there's a God that made
all of that, then miracles aren't the slightest problem at all,
because you've got a miracle every day you draw breath. for
someone to make it, it's a miracle. So other miracles aren't a problem. And the reason we don't, we've
got a vested interest in there not being a God, because we don't
want to have to acknowledge that somebody else is greater than
ourselves. And we don't want to acknowledge that we're responsible
to somebody else, and that we'll have to give an answer for how
we live. So if you don't want to face
your judge, you have to deny your creator. That's where atheism
comes from. Not from the evidence, but from
the necessity to not have a God. So, there's the situation that
we're actually in. And now it says that God silences
these enemies through babies. As I've said, this is a metaphor
for believers who are otherwise helpless. Now, as somebody pointed
out, and very helpfully, it's Palm Sunday today. It's the day
when we celebrate the fact that Christ rode into Jerusalem on
a donkey. And you remember that some people
on the day He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, complained and said,
keep quiet, they're actually attributing something to you
that they shouldn't attribute to him. And Jesus quoted this
psalm. And because it was in the temple,
and there were some children who got caught up in the euphoria
of their parents, and they were shouting out as well, and the
high priests and the scribes and all the others, they wanted
it all to stop because they didn't like this family fund in the
temple all around Jesus. And they said, keep them quiet,
tell them, they're your followers, tell them to be quiet. He said,
He says, haven't you read what it said in this psalm 8? Out
of the mouths of babes and infants you've ordained praise. Interesting
isn't it? People who actually believed
in him on that day he quoted this psalm about them. So it's
a psalm about believers in Jesus Christ. Now it's interesting,
a child is so simple. I hope that you, however old
you are, you never lose your interest in children because
children do so much for us, don't they? They haven't lost their
curiosity about life. They're still in a position where
they have to look up and they're excited about finding out new
things. And I think if you've got so
used to life being just Same old, same old. Go and look at
a child and just realize that life's meant to be constantly
interesting. Because God's constantly interesting. And you can look up and you can
find so many different things. And Jesus was like that. You
know, he said, come to me all you that are weary and heavy
laden. I talk to guys that go to work.
And they talk about the issues that they have to face at work
and the infighting that goes on there. And a lot of it has
to do with self-justification. Everybody wants to be right.
True. And when you get a bunch of people
that all want to be right, then you, by nature of the case, got
the fertile field for arguments. And in the midst of that, come
to me, you, all you who are weary and heavy-laden, Jews at the
time would have been heavy laden because of the Pharisees giving
them so many rules. And he said, come to me, for
I am meek and lowly of heart. Jesus is like a child. That's
what he's saying. Isn't that interesting? He's
still interested in his father. He's still interested in life.
He's still got hope and joy. And so he, because he's able
to look up and forward and have hope. So he's meek and lowly
at heart and he says, come to me and you will find rest for
your souls. Now that's lovely, isn't it?
Here is an invitation to be like a child from Jesus, who himself
is like a child. Now compare the world. The world
is constantly trying to take credit for things. You know the
art of politics, don't you? If you ever want to get into
politics, I can tell you the art of politics. The art of politics
is to be able to guess what the trend is, and then put a program
in place that it looks like you caused it. That's very naughty
and a bit... But anyway, and I'm sure there's
many good politicians who'd squirm a bit and say, no Grant, you've
got that wrong. And there may be many politicians who don't
live that way. But nonetheless, it's a cynical view of what politics
is about, seeing what the trends are going to happen and then
put a plan in place that makes it look like you caused it. Well,
we all work, but it's not just the politicians. We all would
like to think that we are the people. who caused something
good to happen. True? I had a very lovely conversation
with our son recently. We just had a wonderful conversation
one evening. He'd come over to give a hand,
a move, and we were just having a chat around the table in the
evening. It had been just a lovely warm-hearted conversation. And
I looked at my son and I said, called him by a name, I said,
if you think that the reason we've had this good conversation
is that I think it's because I've been such a good dad, I
said, you'd have it 100% wrong. We didn't have a wonderful relationship
because I've been a good dad. We have a wonderful relationship
because God has been gracious to us, to give it to us. And
I could have imagined my son saying to me, ah, good on you
dad, at last you're fessed up about the fact you weren't all
that good. But what he said next was very interesting. He said,
that's a relief. He's in the same boat with teenagers. And he knows that he doesn't
have to be a perfect dad to get a wonderful outcome. Who's responsible
for your life? You or your creator? It makes a lot
of difference where you're looking. One's a life, come to me all
you who are weary and heavy laden, trying to be good. You heard
about the little boy found praying alongside his bed, and he prayed
a very interesting and very honest prayer. He said, Lord, please
make all the bad people good, and please make all the good
people nice. There's something awful about a person being good,
or a person trying to tell you that they are. Don't ever be
a preacher and tell people you're a preacher, because you get a
whole lot of stories about how good people are. They tell you,
because they think you're all about being good, and they want
to show that they are. It's a restless existence, and
it's all because we don't have a God on the earth. So the world
says, and there's a very interesting quote in Isaiah 48, God says,
I've arranged things in such a way that you couldn't have
guessed it, lest you say that my idol did it. The reason why
things have worked out well is because we did this, we did this,
we did this, and so now see? Do you follow? That's the world. They say the world did it. We
all need to look up and see our life and our world as the work
of another and entrust ourselves to him. That's how Jesus lived. And he had more on his plate
than anybody ever had on their plate. And he never did anything
but what he saw the Father doing. Never took any credit for anything.
It was God that was in Christ reconciling the world. It wasn't
just Jesus being a good man. The Father wanted to do this
for the world. He was representing the Father's goodness, not his
own. Isn't that wonderful? What a relaxed way to live, to
know that God is good and we don't have to bother trying to
be good. Well, we just do good things, but you know what I mean?
We don't have to be the good people. So God uses the foolish
things to confound the wise. Isn't that interesting? That's
quoting 1 Corinthians 1. He uses the foolish things of
the world. So here we are, we've got a world,
and there's antagonism out there in the world, and God's going
to establish strength in the midst of his enemies and the
avenger? And who's he going to use? He's going to use us. And
are we going to muscle up to be ready for it? No, we're going
to live very simply as Christians and let our lives be the vehicle
for God at work. Isn't that lovely? And God will still, that means
it will work, He will still the enemy and the avenger. by the
word of a little child. In fact, there's a very practical
example. Before we get on to the next
stage of this, there's a very practical example in Philippians
1, and my wife told me the other day she really liked this particular
verse. Philippians 1, verse 28, Paul
says, don't be in anything terrified by your adversaries. Here's the
big wide world out there with all the people that hate the
Christians, you see. Don't be in anything terrified by your
adversaries. which is to them an evident token
of their damnation and of your salvation. Here we are, you're
in school, they say, what did you do yesterday? Go to church.
Oh, good heavens! Get a life, woman! What? Do you
know what I mean? That's what they'll say, isn't
that true? And what do we say? Well, we
don't mean anything terrified by our adversaries. which is
to them an evident token meanings. There's clear evidence in you
that they're going to hell. That's what it's saying. Now
you don't have to say to them, you're going to hell. Do you
know what I mean? That's a catch phrase they'll
try and get you to say. Do you believe I'm going to hell?
Don't ever answer that question, it's a catch question. They're
only trying to get you over a barrel. You don't need to say it. It's
already been said by you just being confident. Isn't that lovely? It's an evident token of their
damnation and of your salvation. It's very powerful when a little
kid looks up and praises God. is to say that the students at
university years ago, I remember saying this at Adelaide University
years ago when I was working with students, don't ever think
that you sitting here having a meeting with a Bible study
in the midst of this great big university at the time with 12,000
students, it's got a lot more now, but 12,000 students at the
time. Don't ever think that this group
of 60 or 120 people, whatever it was, sitting having a Bible
study, is a small thing. This is the most significant
thing happening on this university. People sitting meekly, hearing
the word of God. Do you see that? We all need to look up because
this is very significant. We need to go into it in just
a little bit more detail. How does a Christian come to
see the world in this particular way? Very important. It's not
just talking about principles here, we're talking about a power
that can actually work in your life. to bring you to this place
of contentment and joy and effectiveness before God. How does a Christian
come to see the world and God in it in this way? He sees, first
of all, how small he or she is. When I consider the heavens,
the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you've
set in place, We're not talking about the world looking at this
now, we're talking about you and me, looking at nature, looking
at the world. When I consider how great it
is, what is man, what is mankind that you're mindful of him, or
that you set your love upon him? In other words, he's not seeing
himself as a nobody, he's saying, God, I know you're interested
in me. Why? Do you see that? It's not a, I'm a nobody, I'm
a worm because the world's so big. It's actually, the world
is so big, so God, why are you interested in me? That's what
the question is, isn't it? I live with that all the time,
don't you? That on the one hand, I know
God is so great, and I say my prayers, and I think, what an
incredible thing. The creator of the universe is
listening to me. Do you ever get, Awed with that? Because that's what's happening
here, isn't it? Well, just live as a creature. That's the beginning
part here. Just be who you are. You're a
creature. You may be made by somebody. And that somebody who
made you is vitally interested, not only in looking after you,
but in having you as something as so significant that the Avengers
are going to have to take notice. Nobody's unimportant. The least
believer can be highly effective in God's sight. That's what it's
saying. out of the mouth of babes and infants, you've ordained
praise in the presence of your enemies, in the presence of your
avengers." So we see how small we are and we wonder at that.
Secondly, we hear our calling. What is man that you're mindful
of him? And he says, you've made him, he answers his own question
in verse 5, you've made him little lower than the angels. Now that's
what my Bible says, but it's actually the word the plural
for gods. And so it could just as easily
be translated, you have made us little lower than God, which
happens to be true. It's interesting, isn't it? This
is quoted in Hebrews, and in Hebrews it quotes the Greek version,
if you're interested in this, and so it mentions angels, not
God. But the most likely translation
of this verse in Hebrew is, you have made us little less than
God. What do we mean by that? Because
obviously we're not creators. Not at all. We're so insignificant
in regard to the sum total of what's been made. But what are
we? It actually says we're made little
less than God and we've been crowned with glory and honour.
So what he means by little less than God is God says, well, I've
made this world, right? Now I've made you. Now, here
it is. You look after it. That's what
he means by being a little less than God. He's crowned us with
glory and honor and said, look after all that. We're not just blobs. We are
agents. One of the meanings of image
of God is actually, if the old stories have got an idolatry
background, that is being spoken to people who before were idolaters,
he says when God makes an image, you know you had a territory
and here was your territory. And then you put, and there's
all the other countries around about you, and you would put
an image of yourself as a king there, and you put an image of
yourself there, and you put an image of yourself there, and you'd
say, this is my territory. That's one possible meaning of
image. That's, I don't know if it's the only one, but it's an
interesting one, isn't it? God says, you're my image. You
are the mark that I own this place, because I've put you in
charge of it. Not interesting. Whether that's
actually true or not, I can't vouch for it, but nonetheless,
it is very helpful as a way of thinking about it. But certainly
we are the image of God. Everything that God is, we are
like that. But everything that God is, we are not that. We are not God. But everything
that God is, we are like that. Why? Not so we can just watch
television. And not so we can be the best
game player in the schoolyard. but so that we can actually take
this creation and use it for holy purposes. It's interesting, isn't it? We're
meant to actually do the best we can at our courses. We're
actually meant to be the best that we can be at our work. We're
best to be able to make the best apricot tarts in the whole church.
We're meant to be really good at something or other. Now, don't
ask me to dance. I just can't do it. I like watch
people dance, but don't ask me to dance. That's just not my
trade. I can't do it. But I can do some other things.
And we're all good at something. And whatever we're good at, God
wants to be the best we possibly can, and God wants us to be able
to use that for the welfare of other people. And God wants us
to be interested in what other people can do, because what's
to be done has to be done by lots of people, not just us.
I wouldn't like to be a surgeon, but I'm sure glad there are surgeons,
otherwise my right arm wouldn't be in the air, it'd be down here,
because a surgeon connected this bit, you see? So we'd like surgeons
to be good, wouldn't we? What about you? What are you
going to be good at? Do you follow? This is a practical
consequence, isn't it? He's actually put us in charge
of something or other, to be something meaningful in the creation
that can be useful. Sometimes people wanted to go
overseas and be useful overseas by, you know, taking the riches
of the West over to another country. And I say to them, well go and
get a trade first, and go and get a profession first, so when
you go you've got something to give. Don't just go. You've got
to have something to give, and so God wants us to be useful
in the creation. And there's so much to do. We'll
always be able to spend our life doing that. And if we can't,
when you get to the stage and you can't do anything else, you can
always pray for other people. You see? You're never unoccupied. So we see that we have a calling. We've been crowned with glory
and honour. And we're meant to subdue this creation and take
it with us into the holiness. God says, fill all the earth.
so that there'll be lots of people to manage the world. Well, the
third thing, first of all, we see our smallness, we see the
importance of our calling. Thirdly, we feel the shame of
not achieving this. I hope you feel shame sometimes. Like I did when I said to my
son, if you think that this is because I think I've been a good
dad, you've got it all wrong. I was confessing my shame. Right? Have you been the person
you should be? No? Everybody's stony faced,
now I've got to give away a thing, have you? Never done less than your best?
Well, the world is feeling shame. Think about it from the world's
point of view. They're feeling shame, aren't they? We, you know,
we're not being kind to refugees. We're not solving the problems
for the old people in the nursing homes. And we get a constant
dose of guilt from the media all the time, isn't that right?
In fact, some people feel that the politics, and this was a
book written about 60 or 70 years ago, it talked about the politics
of guilt and pity and said that's basically where Western economies
are going. We work our politics on keeping people feeling guilty,
and then they'll get involved with the programs. You see, guilt's
a weapon that is actually used. And the world feels it because
we haven't done everything we should have done in the creation.
Is that right? We're watching it all the time actually happening.
We haven't cared for the disabled. We haven't welcomed the refugee.
We haven't removed poverty and so forth. And what about ourselves? Well, I suppose we'd have to
say there are some times we've done less than our best. We've
ignored a need that we could have actually met. To him who
knows that he can do good and ignores it, that's a sin. So
says John. But do you ever notice that shame
does not lead to solutions? Neither will the shame that the
politicians try to put on us so that we vote for them. It
won't work. It won't matter whether it's
from the left or the right. We're not into politics here.
It's just that it won't work, because shame is not a work.
Can you see that God has come into this world? Now this Psalm
8 is directly applied to Jesus in Hebrews 2, and you probably
know it, don't you? And it says, we do not yet see
Jesus lifted high and lifted up. He says, we don't yet see
Jesus having solved all the world's problems. But we do see Jesus,
who for a little while was made lower than the angels, that's
a little lower than God or a little lower than angels, made a little
lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honour because
or for the suffering of deaths, that he may taste deaths for
everyone. And he is seated at the right
hand of God. Now that's a real summary, a
quick summary of Hebrews 2. Can you see that Jesus has stepped
in this world? He's pulled on a pair of pants
or a skirt or whatever you like, doesn't matter if it's female
or female here, male or female here. God has come into this
world as a human being and he says, I'm a human being. What's
the need of the world? The need of the world is that
the world is guilty. The need of the world is that
the world feels ashamed because they're not standing up and being
men and women like they should be. And they can't live with
it. So I'll live with it for them. That's being a man. Seeing your neighbor's need.
Not being big and solving the world's problems, but seeing
your neighbor's need and meeting it. And he saw that the great
need of the world was our own guilty consciences that keeps
us looking down on ourselves all the time and never allows
us to rise to our true nobility. He saw that that's where we were
cowering and he said, come to me, all you who are weary and
heavy laden with your guilt, and I'll give you rest for your
souls. Meek and lowly in heart, looking
up at God, the great creator. If you like, he rolled up his
sleeves and said, let's get this done. And he hung on a cross.
And there's the big job of the world being done for you. That's
work. It's addressing the problem.
It's speaking to the problem. And he took it like a child. And that's what you believe. You have a truth that the world
needs. The world is torturing itself,
trying to be good, trying to fix the problems, trying to subdue
the problems. And God has not designed the
world to be solved by us, but by us being children in his presence. Come to me, says Jesus. He's the true human being. And he's the one who stands in
the middle of the world right now, and he stills the enemy
and the avenger. And you, as his simple servant,
believing that, can go out and it may even be that you will
still the enemy and the avenger by bearing witness to Christ.
Powerful stuff. And it's dealing with the world
and our part in the world and God being actually in his own
world. Dear Father, thank you that you
have created us to be wonderful creatures. We have confessed, Father, the
shame we feel, and yet this morning, Father, it's like we're not even
troubled about it because Christ has been troubled in our place
and brought us back from shame to glory. And here we are, Father,
in your presence, called special by no less than you, and granted
to live still in this world to be your servants, and grant that
we shall be for your name's sake. Amen.
God and Us in the World
Series Williamstown Church of Christ
How can God's glory be seen in the earth? Psalm 8 says God makes it known, to his enemies, through ourselves who, though powerless, trust in him. Jesus makes this good by doing what we would not do in the world. He embraced the whole world and created a people who belong to God—a meek people through whom God reveals himself to those who hate him.
| Sermon ID | 41419214313754 |
| Duration | 41:27 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Psalm 8 |
| Language | English |
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