070916 David Do I Matter (Psalm 8)

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Psalms 8:1-9 NIV O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your

name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. (2) From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. (3) When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, (4) what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?

Psalms 8:1-9 NIV (5) You made him a little lower than the

heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. (6) You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: (7) all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, (8) the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. (9) O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

David: Shaping a Godly Heart

Do I Matter?

Psalm 8

Where were you July 20, 1969? Neil Armstrong took man’s

first steps on the moon

Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon while Michael Collins orbited

Among the items left at Tranquility Base was a Silicon Disc carrying statements from Presidents Nixon, Johnson, Kennedy, Eisenhower and leaders of 73 other nations

The Vatican’s message was the words of Psalm 8 “Jahweh our Lord, how great your name throughout the earth,

above the heavens is your majesty chanted.“By the mouths of children, babes in arms, you set your stronghold firm against your foes to subdue enemies and rebels.“I look up at your heavens, made by your fingers, at the moon and stars you set in place.“Ah, what is man that you should spare a thought for him? Or the son of man that you should care for him?“You have made him a little less than an angel, you have crowned him with glory and splendor, and you have made him lord over the work of your hand.“You set all things under his feet, sheep and oxen all these, yes, wild animals too, birds in the air, fish in the sea traveling the paths of the ocean.“Jahweh our Lord, how great your name throughout the earth!”

What a choice for that cosmic journey!

Song praising cosmic sovereignty of God

Begins and ends with a doxology to God as the Lord of all the earth – the One who is to be honored and worshiped

Humans are given an elevated status, but that status must always be understood in the context of God’s status

Everything in the psalm hinges on this glorious affirmation of God:

O Lord our God, how majestic is your name in all the earth. Your glory extends beyond the heavens.

David looked at the immensity of creation and asked, "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?"

Good question!

David has us looking at the stars

Two inseparable questions: Who is God?

Who am I?

Immanuel Kant Tried to reduce

philosophy to the one essential common denominator

He chose David’s question: What is man?

For David, it’s a crazy idea What are human

beings that you are mindful of them? Mere mortals that you care for them?

Why in this vast universe would the great, majestic, creator God think anything about us?

There are 300-million people in America One born every 7

seconds One dies every 13

seconds New immigrant every

31 seconds 1/300-millionth of the

population – do I count?

There are over 6.5 billion people in the world

In Jesus’ day, there were 300 million on the planet

We didn’t pass one billion till the eve of the 20th Century

Now, I’m 1/six-and-one-half-billionth of the world population

Talk about insignificant!!!

Do we matter?

Our sun is one of 500-billion stars in the Milky Way Scientists estimate

200-billion galaxies Most so far away that

it will take millions of years for the light from one of them to show up in our Coachella Valley sky some night

Wow!

David, without modern science was equally mesmerized:

"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?"

Do I Matter? Two ways of understanding the question One has to do with the

contribution we make to this world

Does it make any difference whether I have lived?

Absolutely! Some people make a difference!

In many ways, what we accomplish, is up to us

Robert Fulghum – in It Was On Fire When I Laid Down On It, recounts a conversation with a colleague who was complaining that he had the same stuff in his lunch sack day after day after day after day

“Who makes your lunch?”

“I do.”

Whether we matter is up to us!

A second way of understanding the question

Not do I matter to the world, but do I matter to God? One of six-and-one-half-billion? Absolutely! The evidence is in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ

Jesus tried to explain how important each one of us is God is like a shepherd

who leaves 99 sheep to hunt for one stray

God is like a father who cannot stop thinking about his rebellious son when he has another who is respectful & obedient

God loves people not as a species, but just as you and I love them: one at a time

And Jesus did more than talk about it - he showed it

He went out of his way to embrace the unloved and unworthy

Lepers were untouchable – he touched them

Handicapped beggars were ignored by everyone else – but not by Jesus

A woman too full of shame to approach Jesus face to face She grabbed his robe,

hoping he would not notice – but he noticed

She learned, like other "nobodies," that you cannot easily escape Jesus' gaze

Why? They mattered Then do I matter? Do

you matter? We must!

David once again:

"What are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor."

We matter!

Sam Shoemaker, early 20th Century preacher How could God even

think about these little specks of life called human beings?

“Mr. Shoemaker, your problem is that your God is too small. God takes care of the sun, the moon, and the stars with just a word. Now, he has all the time in the world just for you and me.”

Fifteen hundred years before, Augustine said it wonderfully:

“God loves each one of us as if there was only one of us to love.”

Karl Barth Swiss theologian of

the mid-20th century He was once asked

what was the most profound theological truth he knew

“Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”

The children’s song is majestic and profound

Do we understand it? Of course not!

There are lots of things we do not understand How brown cows eat green grass and give white milk – but we

still pour it on our cereal

Mother's love or father's patience – but we rely on them

How pain can help us grow – but we know that it does

This is just one more thing we don’t understand

Do I matter? Do you? 1/six-and-one-half-billionth? Yes. At the beginning of all this I said that the

question "Do I matter?" can be understood two ways: Do I matter to the world? Do I matter to God?

The two are interrelated, because if I am convinced that I DO matter to God, I WILL matter to the world

Self-image makes all the difference

Victor Serebriakoff Poor student

Teacher called him “Dummy”

Placed in a class for slow learners

Dropped out of school at 16

Drifted from job to job At 32 applied for a job

requiring an IQ test – Horrors!

Victor Serebriakoff He scored 162 –

genius! Came to believe he

was no dummy Became a successful

businessman

He was Mensa’s unofficial “president”

It is amazing what a change of self-image can do!

The Creation by James Weldon Johnson

And God stepped out on space, And he looked around and said: I'm lonely -- I'll make me a world.


And far as the eye of God could see Darkness covered everything, Blacker than a hundred midnights Down in a cypress swamp.


Then God smiled, And the light broke, And the darkness rolled up on one side, And the light stood shining on the other, And God said: That's good!


Then God reached out and took the light in his hands, And God rolled the light around in his hands Until he made the sun;

And he set that sun a-blazing in the heavens.


And the light that was left from making the sun God gathered it up in a shining ball And flung it against the darkness, Spangling the night with the moon and stars.


Then down between The darkness and the light He hurled the world; And God said: That's good!


Then God himself stepped down -- And the sun was on his right hand, And the moon was on his left; The stars were clustered about his head, And the earth was under his feet.


And God walked, and where he trod His footsteps hollowed the valleys out And bulged the mountains up.


Then he stopped and looked and saw That the earth was hot and barren. So God stepped over to the edge of the world And he spat out the seven seas --


He batted his eyes, and the lightnings flashed -- He clapped his hands, and the thunders rolled -- And the waters above the earth came down, The cooling waters came down.


Then the green grass sprouted, And the little red flowers blossomed,The pine tree pointed his finger to the sky, And the oak spread out his arms,


The lakes cuddled down in the hollows of the ground, And the rivers ran down to the sea; And God smiled again,

And the rainbow appeared, And curled itself around his shoulder.


Then God raised his arm and he waved his hand Over the sea and over the land, And he said: Bring forth! Bring forth!


And quicker than God could drop his hand, Fishes and fowls And beasts and birds Swam the rivers and the seas, Roamed the forests and the woods, And split the air with their wings. And God said: That's good!


Then God walked around, And God looked around On all that he had made.


He looked at his sun, And he looked at his moon, And he looked at his little stars; He looked on his world

With all its living things, And God said: I'm lonely still.


Then God sat down -- On the side of a hill where he could think;By a deep, wide river he sat down; With his head in his hands, God thought and thought, Till he thought: I'll make me a man!


Up from the bed of the river God scooped the clay; And by the bank of the river He kneeled him down;


And there the great God Almighty Who lit the sun and fixed it in the sky, Who flung the stars to the most far corner of the night, Who rounded the earth in the middle of his hand; This Great God, Like a mammy bending over her baby,


Kneeled down in the dust Toiling over a lump of clay Till he shaped it in his own image;Then into it he blew the breath of life, And man became a living soul.Amen. Amen.

Next time you stop at one of those scenic views While you stand there

gawking at the beauty of God’s creation, remember this:

The God of creation is gawking back, admiring you as the crowning achievement of all creation

You were created by God to live in God’s love

The God who made you loves you The One who knows you better than anyone loves

you anyway And he invites you to love him back!

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Closing Prayer

Please stay for a brief period of fellowship followed by Bible Classes from 10:30 to 11:15

Spiritual

070916 David Do I Matter (Psalm 8)