Word of Salvation – Vol.50 No.43 – November 2005

 

When I Consider...

 

A Sermon by Rev R Noppers on Psalm 8:3-4

Scripture Readings:  Hebrews 2:5-18; Isaiah 40:25-31; Psalm 8

 

Dear Congregation...

What is man? Who am I? What am I doing here? Ringing through the generations, this haunting question pursues us, demanding an answer. And as our knowledge of this universe has grown, as each individual becomes simply a number in the calculations of society, this question has simply become more and more pressing!

Carl Sagan, a philosopher and scientist whose research on the origin of life began in the 1950s, notes "As long as there have been humans we have searched for our place in the cosmos. Where are we? Who are we?"

His answer: "We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are more galaxies than people."

Is this the only answer modern science can give? Words like insignificant, humdrum, forgotten? If so, then we are doomed to a sense of helplessness and hopelessness as we stand, in Sagan's words, on the shores of a wild and infinite cosmic ocean.

Is that how you feel sometimes? Confronted with the endless heavens, uncountable stars like we just don't count? Like we are simply specks of dust, a short existence that is simply wiped away and forgotten?

Then listen to Psalm 8, and get the real perspective on life! Beyond the vastness of the universe is the even greater vastness and majesty of God! This world is not just a big nothingness, but an awesome and wonderful creation made by an even more awesome and wonderful God!

At even the most basic level, when we consider that there are over a 100 billion trillion stars, and that every star is different in splendour from the next, can you even begin to comprehend such greatness? Then consider that God gives each and every single star a name! And He knows each one: not one of them is missing!

The moon and the stars are merely the work of His fingers. Can you imagine the entire universe sitting on His workbench between God's fingers as He gives it the finishing touches?!!

But that does raise another issue, doesn't it? When we do consider all that God has made, when we realise that this world upon which we live is but a speck in the universe, it is simply incredible - almost arrogant - to believe that God would have any special concern for it, let alone each individual on it! After all, with all those stars up there, those billions of galaxies, why should God even take the time to think about you and me?

When we consider those laws that govern with relentless authority the whole range of earthly existence, what presumption there seems to be in supposing that He, who set these laws in place, would even stoop to think about us! Especially as individuals, one by one?

It seems too incredible to be real; too much to take in; hence the cry: what is man that you are mindful of Him?

As people faced with an infinite and majestic God, how dare we think He is close to us? Instead, faced with His might and power, we are filled with dread and awe; and we ask: who are we that we dare draw near to God?

Have you ever asked yourself this question? When you consider His heavens, the work of His fingers, the moon and the stars which God has set in place, who are you, that you should claim Him as your own? What gives you the courage, the strength, to dare make such a claim? Who are any of us to be so familiar with the one who made the heavens and the earth? Who, indeed

Job asked that question, and found it too much of a burden to understand that God knew him inside out. Who can cope with someone who knows your every thought? Before you even think it? Can you?

David also asks this same question in Psalm 144:3, and reminds those who rebel against this Almighty God that they simply don't stand a chance!

Do you wonder this? Do you wonder who you are? Who is this frail, weak, sinful being made from the dust of the ground? Compared to the awesomeness and the majesty of God, we are nothing, a speck, puny and insignificant. Is that the conclusion you come to?

But then think it through. Only man, of all creation, is able to ask this question! The animals can't! The trees and the birds can't! We alone, from all God's magnificent work, are made not just to acknowledge the God who made us but also to converse with Him, to rule His world for Him, and to live with Him in true fellowship!

When God made the heavens and the earth, He said it was good. But when He made man, He said it was very good, and then stopped to admire His work!

When we look at the heavens, according to Isaiah 40:26 and following, instead of thinking how far He is from us, we should see how He looks after every detail!

And according to Isaiah 45:18 and 51:16, instead of thinking that God planned an empty and meaningless universe, we find out that all this creative work, all this magnificence and wonder, all this infinity of space is simply God's way of providing a home for His family, for the people He created!! Therefore this psalm is not a cry of hopelessness, or a sigh of insignificance, but instead a shout of astonishment that God is mindful of us; that He does care for us!

In fact, it is truly mind-boggling that God is mindful of us in a way that He is mindful of nothing else! All we know about the stars is that at the dawn of time God kindled their fire and then left them to do their work of light! He has set them in place and they do their work.

But with you and me God is concerned on a daily basis, in a special, personal way. He is mindful of our needs each second of every day, even to death and beyond! God lives in our pockets; so close that He is with us every moment of every day!

After all, "mindful" is a covenant word: God remembers that He made a promise to Abraham, and therefore to all the children of Abraham by faith! Because God is mindful, He brought Israel back from exile; because He is mindful, He sent His only Son into the world, not to condemn the world but to save the world through Him!

Hence it is in the New Testament, in the letter to the Hebrews, that we get the full answer. This question, "Who is man?", is answered in such a way that only the incarnation, death and reign of Christ can satisfy!

Who is man? The great truth of Jesus Christ answers that question! His voice proclaims the true value of every believer! His sacrifice declares us forgiven, set free and eternally precious, with a love that stretched out eternal arms upon the cross!

What is man, that you are mindful of Him? It is that we are created for God's glory and the enjoyment of His presence! The underlying, indwelling purpose of the life begun at Bethlehem was to tell the world who God is and who we are in relation to Him! As God reveals Himself, He reveals who we are as well! As we know God, we know who we are!

Because God is mindful, He has forgiven our sins by the blood of Christ! Because God is mindful, He gives us each day the reality of salvation, a new life born within, repentance and faith as His special gifts, making us more and more like Christ with each new passing day, and forging us as a church into the communion of the saints, the body of Christ!

Because God is mindful, all of us may rest assured that God will fulfil all those beautiful promises He has made to us about a future life, a new and better life in a new and better body in His presence for ever!

Do you deserve this? No way. Do I deserve this? No more than any of us. Yet God is mindful of us. And do not forget that in His care He also gives each day your food to eat, your clothes to wear, a house to live in and life and breath each morning. In fact, He constantly gives us far more than we need and often can use! God showers His care upon us! In fact, we are rich beyond measure in the love of God!

Jesus gives us our value: fearfully and wonderfully made, more than mere flesh and blood, in fact, something indestructibly unchangeably essential so that the mystery of Bethlehem, the tragedy of Calvary and the miracle of the resurrection become the heart and soul of our existence!

Even Christ's ceaseless intercession on our behalf is not mere routine, but the very focus of His heart and soul, and the continued existence of the church is the power of God at work on our behalf!

When we compare ourselves to the universe, we shrink down to nothing, but in the context of God's love we grow to a majestic position! We are made a little lower than the heavenly beings; yet we have God as our Father! We may look at creation and feel overwhelmed. We may look at our sin and feel utterly hopeless, but size means nothing to God. He is as much in the atom as He is in the universe!

Therefore our place in God's creation is a special one, and our place in God's redemption is even more spectacular! Regardless of how small and insignificant you or I may feel at times, regardless how worthless you may feel when life becomes a major struggle, remember that even then you are priceless beyond measure! Never allow yourselves to be robbed of your faith, of the place in this awesome universe that we have in Jesus Christ. Though we are made a little less than the angels, yet for each of us who believe, a place in heaven is reserved! In fact, we may share in that which even the angels long to look into but cannot, as the apostle Peter says in his first letter!

When I consider the works of God's hands, when you consider them, remember that in Christ we are more than all this majesty, all this infinity, all this wonder; and that more importantly, we are nearer to God than all this as well!

As Jesus says: consider how the lilies of the field grow, with all their splendour, and yet we are far more valuable than these! It is so easy to think that with such a large universe God will have no time for us, but He knows even the number of hairs on your head!

As parents, most of us will have stood in our little child's room and watched them sleep, dreaming about the things we would do together and wondering how your life would turn out.

In fact, as a parent, in one sense all that we are and all that we have is for our children. We do dozens of things for them without them even knowing about it. We think and pray about their character, their education, their future work, even whom they might marry and what their family will be like!

If that is what we, ordinary human parents do, then consider what God, our heavenly Father, does as He continues to care for us! He watches over us every night as we sleep. He looks forward to spending each day with us, and He has hopes and dreams for us that nothing in all creation can take away! He knows our character, our education, our future work and life! And He will work all these things for our good as we love Him!

You are God's son or daughter and He is your Father, your daddy, who loves you very, very much, and only ever wants the best for you! In fact, all He is and all He has, even His own precious Son, He gave for you.

So when you consider what God has made, and remember how He cares for you, it puts everything in the right perspective! Then our problems, issues, and burdens become so small compared to the immensity of God's love and care for us!

When we consider what God has made, and perhaps become a little fearful about the future, or about what might happen, we are reminded to take those tiny crosses and lean them up against the cross of Christ, rejoicing in how solid our trust may be in God alone!

For God came to be like us, so that once for all any thought that we are unimportant, or not worth worrying about, can be completely set aside. The life and death of Jesus Christ is God's final answer to the natural fear of every human heart that we are too insignificant to count for anything, or that God is too far away to have a close and permanent relationship with us!

Have you come to that realisation yet? Is your heart filled with joy that you are more precious than anything else to God?

And then, if that is how God sees us, can we see one another with any less amazement and wonder and awe? Can we treat one another as any less than precious and important and special?

Yes, we have been crowned with glory and honour! When we look at this world, we seem so small, but when we see God's task for us in it, we are large beyond measure. We have the privilege to declare that Jesus is Saviour and Lord, to lead people from sin to salvation, to shine light where only darkness rules! We may be small in the universal scale of things, but our crown of glory is the dominion over this earth that God has given to us, and only to us! Both in nature and task, we are given glory and honour!

There is no doubt that this psalm is a royal vision of humanity. Again, to quote the apostle Peter: "You are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who brought you out of darkness into His wonderful light!"

We were made to be with God, to walk with Him, to find our every joy and every pleasure in Him alone; to know the almighty creator as Father, and Jesus as friend and brother.

Humanity is creation's crowning glory! Each of us, in Christ, is creation's crowning glory! The rest of creation is but mere machinery for this one thing: our delight in God, and His delight in us!

And yet we can say, with all humility and amazement: what else should we expect of our God? He is God of all grace! To be anything else, to be any other way, is to deny Himself, His character, His person, His name.

No wonder then the psalm begins and ends with a shout of praise! The ever-expanding waves of God's glory in the heavens grow more majestic as every element, from the myriads of stars to the tiniest baby, stands and shouts in awe and praise at who God is!

As the psalm declares: "From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise." God has "ordained" praise. He has predestined it! He has appointed praise! In fact, God has both equipped and prepared us to praise Him!

God wants praise. And, by His plan He gets that praise from the lips of children and infants, from young people, meeting the challenge of the enemies of this world with the voices of the weak and the powerless, the insignificant and the lowly!

And in that light it would do us all good to remember that God desires, God loves, God ordains praise from each of us! God wants us to praise Him. God wants us to sing His praises in church, in school, in your work, your relaxation, your home. God wants you to sing out your heart, at every moment of every day!

After all, it always comes back to God and His amazing grace! Whatever else you are called to do here on earth, it always takes second place to your calling as God's servants and God's worshippers!

What a God we have! For the marvel of God's majesty is not merely some quality we see in God, but the wonder of the way in which God sees us!

John Calvin starts his magnificent survey of the Christian Faith, called the Institutes of the Christian religion, by reflecting that our knowledge of ourselves and our knowledge of God are so intertwined that one has little power to grow without the other. We need to know God to know ourselves. And the more we know about God, the more amazed and joyful we become as people created in His image!!

It is God who loves us when we are unlovely. It is God who declares us to be kings and queens. It is God who thinks wonderful thoughts about us when we even struggle to think those thoughts about ourselves!

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Congregation, therefore the final answer to the question, Who is man...? is always answered in Jesus Christ.

As God comes to earth in His Son, the greatness of God and the grandeur of the universe are met in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ you and I are precious, we are important, we are the crown of all creation!

Amen.