Ira Baptist Church
Sunday, June 22

      • Isaiah 40.9-10ESV

      • Isaiah 40.11ESV

      • Isaiah 40.12-13ESV

      • Isaiah 40.14-15ESV

      • Isaiah 40.28-30ESV

      • Isaiah 40.31ESV

  • Behold Our God

      • 1 John 4.7-9ESV

      • 1 John 4.10ESV

  • I Stand Amazed (My Savior's Love)
  • Christus Victor (Amen)
  • I'd Rather Have Jesus

      • Hebrews 4.14-15ESV

      • Hebrews 4.16ESV

  • “What am I doing here?” the man said to himself as he was on his daily drive to work. Like many days before, the morning routine almost melted into the background as monotonous and cold. Day after day for the last 10 years he had woken up at the same time, put on similar clothes, packed a simple lunch, and headed out in his car. This morning was no different, and as sat in the drivers seat he began to question all of his value, all of his worth, and whether or not his life was really accomplishing anything significant.
    Suddenly, and almost in a daze, it was as if he heard a voice - audibly asking him one of the deepest questions he’d ever pondered. “What do you want?”
    What do I want? he said, pressing back in his seat. By this time he was thinking out loud. “What do I want? I’ve been on autopilot for 10 years. My kids are growing up, i feel like I barely know my wife anymore. My job provides well for our needs, but It feels pointless and temporary. I feel so numb, Like it’s all I can do to just keep up with my daily routine. How can I possible think about what I want?” To his shock, the voice responded again - “Sir, this is Dunkin Donuts, and you’re holding up the drive through. If you don’t know what you want, can you please pull around the building until you figure it out?”
    That story may be funny, and It’s not a biographical account - but If we’re honest, it’s probably a similar conversation that many many people have had within themselves during certain seasons of life.
    It’s not unusual, you see, to get inside your head, to daydream at your desk or in the car or on the lawnmower, and think about what you’re really doing in this life.
    Actually, this very Psalm brings up the idea of daydreaming, or maybe better, “nightdreaming.” We’re told that David writes this Psalm, and verse 3 paints this picture.
    Psalm 8:3 ESV
    When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
    It almost makes you wonder if David, as a young man, a shepherd tending his father’s sheep, would sit out on the hills around Bethlehem at night, and ponder his own value, his own existence, the worth of his own work?
    Oh yes, David had a lot of time for thinking, for reasoning, for talking to his God. He wrote so many of these beautiful Psalms, but perhaps none so foundational and basic to our understanding of what it means to be a person in God’s universe.
    Big ideas covered in this Psalm
    The Transcendence and Majesty of God
    The Significance of Mankind in God’s design
    The Condescension of God in ministering to mankind
    The role of mankind in creation
    Mainly though, two parallel and existential questions that really boil into one
    Who is God
    Character, nature, majesty, greatness, power, care
    Who/What is man?
    Structure of the Psalm - Chiasm, The base of the mountain in verses 1 and 9, the main question or idea in verses 4-5, what is man?
    In other words, what significance is he? And where does that question come from? It comes from the foundational knowledge of who God is. Not a perfect knowledge, for even the Psalm admits that he is above comprehension - but that is just it. God, who is infinitely majestic and glorious in person, in nature, in character, the creator of everything, has mysteriously chosen to reveal his glory in a unique way in mankind.
    This Psalm informs the mind, as it begs us to begin our thinking about man with thinking first about God. This Psalm trains the affections, because it sets God’s glory as the highest knowable or perceivable good. This Psalm fuels wonder, because it sets out the unfathomable truth that the infinite Majestic God has set his gaze upon us. And this Psalm steers our pathway, because it establishes our purpose and worth within the scope of God’s Sovereignty, his Authority, his greatness, and ultimately points us to our Redeemer.

    What is our purpose? The insignificance and the significance of man come together for Divine purpose under and for the Majesty and Glory of God.

    Psalm 8:1–2 ESV
    O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.
    Psalm 8:3–5 ESV
    When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.
    Psalm 8:6–9 ESV
    You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

    Gazing Upward

    Psalm 8:1 ESV
    O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.
    O Lord, our Lord
    Oh Yahweh, Our Adonai - our master. Sovereign Lord, our master.
    Possessive, our - kids vs. “my” kids. Elizabeth vs. “my” elizabeth.

    God’s Majesty and Glory.

    Notice, the Psalm begins and ends with this theme - that is because God’s majesty and glory are the framework for everything to come, everything that is to be said about humans and our work and our worth and our praise, it all is established in the realm of God’s majesty and glory.
    Wen begin with God. He is the reference point of thought for a believer.
    Majesty, inspires awe and reverence.
    Glory, his honor.
    Majestic in all the earth, Glory above the heavens.
    Name/Glory - parallel lines.
    Name - Character. Not simply his name, Yahweh, but who he is.
    Psalm 19, Romans 1. The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies above reveal his handiwork. We are without excuse because the

    Stretching Outward

    Psalm 8:2–3 ESV
    Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place
    God’s glory is set high above the heavens, but the knowledge of it and experience of it stretches outward because He is sovereign over all the earth.

    Everything Under God’s Sovereignty

    Psalm 8:2–3 ESV
    Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
    Mouth of babies and infants
    the cry of help, or their cry of praise.
    Do you see how this Psalm keeps bringing out gaze upward, then back down. To heights, and then back to lowliness. What is lower and more helpless than an infant? Yet, God ordains that even from their cry of help, his hand moves.
    Jesus in the Temple
    Matthew 21:15–16 ESV
    But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, “ ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?”
    This tells us two things
    One, that Jesus Christ is the object of this praise. That’s why those Pharisees are indignant and tried to put a stop to this. Those kids were praising Jesus. May our Kids praise Jesus. May we praise Jesus. He is the object of our praise.
    Two, that God sets his gaze upon and loves the praises of little children - they aren’t forgotten. Consider that the majestic sovereign Lord of the universe casts his gaze even upon the infants, and even the little ones from the time they can speak, he often gives them a song of praise.
    In a nation where children are aborted at will, often even without a pressing reason and sometimes, seemingly, without a thought, every baby born that lives and survives is a reminder that there is a majestic, sovereign creator God who hears their cry.
    More than that, consider that this is David writing
    As a young man, a boy some would say, slew Goliath - the champion of the Philistine army. With a little sling and stone.
    How did he do that? Well this Psalm gives a clue, the Lord Ordained it. He used David as a worker, but he ordained the victory. He ordered it, he established it.
    And this is one of the themes of this Psalm - that the majestic God, the sovereign Lord of all, the creator and sustainer of all things, ordains and establishes works done by humans. He uses them as agents, servants, workers. And we see that in the parallel section of this Psalm.
    Psalm 8:6–8 ESV
    You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
    Dominion
    rulership - little kings with little crowns.
    Side note, Psalm 2.
    But not just kings in the proper sense, but kings like farmers.
    David again, dominion over sheep. He had a hard lot in it too. Do you remember what he told King Saul when he was trying to convince him to let him fight goliath? He said, “I watch my Dad’s sheep - I’ve had to fight off a lion and a bear in doing that.”
    Now notice that pattern. Whose sheep were they? Jesse’s, his dad’s. Yet, David was given a little “dominion” over them and even went to great risk to ensure success.
    Purpose as agents. Back to our funny story at the beginning - the man with no sense of purpose or connection to a greater good.
    Well, in sense, every work that we do, whether its with peoeple in customer service or with materials in a trade or with finances in a bank or with safety on the roadways, every bit of it is a little place of dominion over the works of God’s hands.
    Dominion - harkens back to Genesis.
    God placed man in the garden to do what? to work it, to dress it and keep it. There is responsibility there that is real and meaningful. Why? Because God established it to be that way.
    God is the supreme, sovereign Lord of all - he’s totally in control, nobody can thwart his plans or change his ways. Yet, I know that in the natural course of order in our garden, corn isn’t going to grow if I don’t plant seed in the spring.
    And so it is that we are dominion-bearers in this world. Our choices and our actions have real consequence and effect, because God establishes - he ordains the works that we do. It displays his glory and broadens it outward. Because you know what a little responsibility teaches? It teaches that there is a lot more up the chain.
    Every time I think of the responsibilities I have, as a Man, as a Husband, as a Dad, as a Pastor, as a Tradesman, as a Citizen, I think “Wow - I’m glad I don’t have to do all this as well as ....”
    And so our little areas of dominion, individually, and humanities dominion on the earth, collectively, broaden our vision and view of God’s glory, cast our minds upward, because we see what a mess we can make of it, and how Glorious our God must be to have made it all perfect, and promise that it will be such again.

    Searching Godward

    Psalm 8:4–5 ESV
    what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.

    The Image of God is Mankind’s Unique Crown

    Psalm 8:4–5 ESV
    what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.
    We are told that mankind has a unique place in creation. Dominion - Covenant with God, who establishes in no uncertain terms that we are his, his creation, and that he is sovereign - but also gives us agency, to work and lead and live and produce.
    This question is just the opposite, though, of what is asked in our foolish hearts so many times. People, more likely, ask the question that Pharaoh asked Moses when he asked for the freedom of the Israelites.
    Pharaoh asked, “Who is God, that I should obey him?”
    You see, it is still an existential question - but one that begins with man as ultimate, man as the chief end, man as the pinnacle of everything.
    And you have to wonder, how many people out there right now are in that frame of thinking. God, who is God that I should obey Him? I’m my own person, I’ve got my own power. I’m strong, I’m young, I’m talented, I’m creative. God, why bring God into the mix?
    You see, its a different frame of mind, isn’t it?
    To gaze into the beauty of the heavens, to see the billions of stars in our galaxy, one of billions of others. To see the beauty of the grand canyon, the vast expanse of oceans, the majesty of snow-capped mountain peaks, to feel the warmth of relational love, or to yearn for it in the emptiness of the lack of love. Its a different frame of mind to look at all that, and to say “boy, I’m really it - I’m the only hope I’ve got, I’ve got to figure this all out and make the best run of it that I can.
    This is not the intention or target of this message, but even yesterday within our own county, and a certain event going on in the city, with thousands of people celebrating what they believe to be their freedom, their liberation from oppressive norms, of new expanses of culture and expression and sexuality and love. But perhaps, just perhaps, that in all that joyful expression and colorful creativity and “throwing off of chains” there is really still a kind of darkness deeper than any shade of gray, and a set of chains more stalwart than any bars of iron, because the real question still yearns underneath - “what am I? What is man?”
    Apart from the framework of God, the infinite, majestic, transcendent God. Apart from the framework of God, the creator, sustainer, all-powerful God. Apart from the framework of God, the compassionate, the visitor, the Redeemer God, apart from His unquestionable goodness, his unimpeachable character - his Glory, that question can’t find its place. It can’t rest. It can hardly be asked. Because If, as a man, as a woman, as a person, if I’m it - then how do I ask what I’m to be or do or fulfill?
    You see, even the question being asked demands one who can answer it. The universe can’t answer it, its impersonal. The Philosophers can’t answer it, they’re only working with abstract ideas. The proffessors can’t answer it, they’re in the same dillema as the one asking the question.
    Who can answer it? The one who stands above, who sets his Glory above the heavens, but also crowns mankind with a unique charge, as being made in his image.

    Still Gazing Upward

    Hebrews 2:5–7 ESV
    For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor,
    Hebrews 2:8–9 ESV
    putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
    Who is it referring to?
    Not to the Angels
    Not to man in general, here.
    But to one man - Jesus.
    Jesus, who stooped from the height of glory in the heavens, to the little crown of humanity, but he did it so that he could properly take dominion.

    We See Jesus

    1 Corinthians 15:24–26 ESV
    Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
    This man, the man Christ Jesus, who though being in the form of God, didn’t count equality with God as something to be grasped, but willingly emptied himself and took on the form of a servant. Humbled himself.
    And we ask, What is man that you are mindful of us?
    Nard - little boy in the jungle of the Philippines.
    VBS - little girl in the village of West Rutland.
    You, me - what are we that God would visit us?
    When we gaze into the night sky, seeing the work of God’s fingers. When we look at the vast depth of the ocean, so deep that a human body can’t even begin to bear the pressure of the water. When we see flying birds and blossoming flowers and crashes of thunder and lightening so bright it turns the midnight to daylight, and we think, what am I, O Lord, that you would consider me?

      • Psalm 8:3ESV

      • Psalm 8:1–2ESV

      • Psalm 8:3–5ESV

      • Psalm 8:6–9ESV

      • Psalm 8:1ESV

      • Psalm 8:2–3ESV

      • Psalm 8:2–3ESV

      • Matthew 21:15–16ESV

      • Psalm 8:6–8ESV

      • Psalm 8:4–5ESV

      • Psalm 8:4–5ESV

      • Hebrews 2:5–7ESV

      • Hebrews 2:8–9ESV

      • 1 Corinthians 15:24–26ESV

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