And Lord, we pray your blessing over the preaching and the hearing of it today. In your name. Amen.
Well, recently I came across a startling headline in my news feed. It was by Arthur Brooks, writing this month, in our last month rather in the Atlantic. And the headline was this. Why are young people everywhere so unhappy? I was like, oh, I want to click on this. So I clicked on it. Why are young people everywhere so unhappy? And it resonated with me. I want you to know I clicked on this because it resonated with me. My observation is that especially for those under 40, ish and under, there is a fundamental restlessness I sense in these two generations under 40, a fundamental unhappiness, a fundamental frustration, an underlying anxiety, even anger, even sadness.
So I wanted to know, well, what does this social scientist think is the cause? Well, Brooks points to a Dartmouth study that typically, that studies how happy people are in countries over time. And what they find over time is when people, they ask people to report how happy are you? They have all these metrics. Typically, it follows a U shape, that people young, full of life, 18, 20, are happy. They're like, yay. And then they sail into life and bam, they get hit with a mortgage or a, you know, their first job loss, first big medical event, and their happiness goes down. And then you have kids and you're like, remember when I used to sleep? That was awesome. You know, and then toward, as you age, your happiness tends to go back up. You're like, hey, life is not so bad. I have some free time. And so this U shape is typical of most places and most cultures. But what, what this Dartmouth study is pointing to is that in the recent generations in America in particular, in there has not Been a U shape. It started out bad, right? So typically where people are like, yeah, we're 20, we're gonna conquer the world. Our 20 year olds are going, we're dead, we're doomed, this is done. What are we doing?
And so Brooks is trying to figure out why is this? Because one of the fundamental questions is this, do you feel your life has an important purpose or meaning? And almost universally a lot of people under 40, the trend is, is doing that. More and more people are answering that question, no, no, I don't feel my life has a purpose or a meaning. And he points to two really interesting factors that you think should be helping but are actually hurting. And so the first, the first thing you'd think would help is that, well, Americans on the scale of, of comparison to the entire world, they typically have more money. So if we have more money, we have more cars, we have more than one car, we have a house sometimes. Why are we happy? Well, the study actually reveals that in many of the wealthier countries, wealth leads to unhappiness, not happiness, ironically, the second irony is this. Our modern culture has kind of conspired culturally to say the less religious a country is, the less kind of straight jacketed by rules and religious dogma, the freer they'll be and the happier they'll get. That's the opposite actually. The less religious countries are, the more unhappy they are. And so we're rich, non religious and unhappy. That's what Brooks is pointing to. Now the world solution to this is, well, it's just we haven't made enough money, we haven't freed ourselves enough from religion. Right? We just need more. We need more of this, more options, more shows, more income, more freedom to move more things. But listen to Jim Carrey. Jim Carrey remarked this and I thought it's so, so startling he says this. I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it's not the answer.
Right? That's where we are. We are fundamentally unhappy. So how do we solve this? Well, our text in Psalm 8 has the answer.
Psalm 8 is a startling Psalm. Psalm 8 is a Psalm about what it means to be human. And notice this. The life of the human being in Psalm 8 is full of joy, it is full of praise, it is full of gladness, it is full of wonderful and glory. And Psalm 8 lays out a, if I could say it this way, a new way to be human again that our world and our souls are longing for.
6 · Pastoral reassurance acknowledging the conceptual weight of the sermon while promising concrete, immediate application to daily work and life
Now, some of this is going to be big concept. But I promise you, if you will take this journey of Psalm 8, it's not just going to kind of reshuffle some ideas in your head. It will give dignity and value to your work and life starting today and tomorrow.
7 · Announces the sermon's structural framework (five steps) and introduces the first step
So I'm going to lay out what I think in this text. I'm going to say this a little bit of tongue in cheek, but five steps to restore your humanity laid out for us in Psalm 8. Five steps. First step is this. Step one recenter the universe.
8 · Exposes the radical difference between Psalm 8's starting point (God) and the modern world's starting point (self)
The text starts in a totally different place than our world does today. Look at verse one. Oh humans. Nope. Oh me. Nope. Oh Lord, our Lord. How majestic is your name in all the earth. Psalm 8 starts not with us at all. It starts with God.
9 · Contrasts the two dominant cultural paths to happiness (self-discovery and self-creation) with Psalm 8's alternative: God-discovery
Typically, this is the the opposite of our world. And where we start looking for happiness, we tend to look in two places. We either look to self discovery or self creation. Self discovery, meaning that if you just, if you just find out who you were supposed to be and then express it and then have people accept it, then you'll be happy. Right? This is the plot of every old Disney movie ever. Just discover the thing inside me and then let it out. And everyone will be like, oh, you're amazing. And I'll be like, I know, I know, I am right. This is I discovered it or it's self creation. This is a more post modern take on this. Meaning that the assumption is not that you have something to discover, meaning it's just that you can create your own identity. You can create, you can achieve an identity for yourself, then you express it, then you have it affirmed and then you'll be happy. But Psalm 8 starts not with self discovery, but with God discovery.
10 · Illustrates the necessity of recentering through the historical analogy of geocentric vs
Psalm 8 starts by Re centering the universe, our universe, around God. God first. Now this is the difference between thinking like as we used to and assumed as human beings. Well, the universe and the solar system, they must orbit around the Earth because we're the most important thing in the solar system. The galaxy must orbit around us because we're the most important thing in the galaxy. Right? This is how we just show up into the creation that as a result of our fallen nature, we, we just show up, we're like, it's about me, isn't it? Aha. I knew it. And it caused a massive scandal in science when scientists began to observe. I actually don't think the Earth is the center of the solar system. I actually don't think the Earth is the center of the galaxy. And everyone's going, what? How dare You. How dare you? Right? This is exactly what we do as human beings. How dare you say that I'm not the center. But the reality is this. You can say you're the center all you want, but it's just not true. You can say the Earth is the center of the solar system all you want, but it is not true. And you're always going to have problems.
11 · Expounds the two names for God in verse 1 (Yahweh and Adonai) to establish the dual reality: God is both transcendently majestic and intimately personal
This Psalm, Psalm 8, calls us to embrace the God centeredness of the universe and embrace two crucial truths about God. Notice these truths in verse one. It lays out how high and majestic the Lord is, and then how personal the Lord is. So how high and majestic that that capital word Lord means the great I am Yahweh. It means, in a sense, our master, our boss, the Exalted One, the King of the universe. So we start with confessing God is the king. But notice the word our he is the exalted King, but he is our exalted King, meaning this majestic, elevated God is still personal. And in fact that word the great I am Yahweh. That is God's covenant name to his people, implying his relationship with his people. So this is a God at the center of the universe that is both glorious and exalted and yet deeply personal. That's how you begin to recenter the universe.
12 · Applies the first step with diagnostic self-examination: trace your unhappiness to its source and you'll likely find self-centeredness
So here's my question as we get started here. What's the center of your universe? I've noticed this week, whenever I tend to be grumpy or grumbly or unhappy, if I will trace that back to what's at the center of the universe, I usually find myself right. It's like, well, I thought we were going to do this tonight. Well, why would you assume that? Well, because, I don't know, because I just. I don't want to say it, but I'm the most important person in the family, so I assumed everyone was going to kind of orbit around me tonight. Like, well, this person has this like, well, okay, right. This is. If you trace your grumbling and unhappiness, often you'll find it is due to you trying to be the center of the universe and then being frustrated that you're not. And so Psalm 8 helps us from the beginning. It says, no, no, no, no. Recenter the universe, you orbit around the Lord. Let's start there.
13 · Marks the structural shift from step one (recentering) to step two (seeing glory), maintaining the sermon's organizational framework
Step one, Step two. Open your eyes then to the glory in the universe.
14 · Expounds verses 1b-2 to show that God-centeredness doesn't diminish creation but elevates it
I love this verse 1B. 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. Now, this text opens our eyes not to some dreary, joyless existence of, I guess God's the center of the universe. No, when we see God at the center of the universe, we see all creation around us, reflecting, resounding his glory. And therefore, we see glory everywhere. We see it in infants, we see it in the skies. We see it all over the place because we see its source in the Lord. Now, this again is such an important adjustment to the way that we approach life, because here's the reality. The stuff of creation makes a good gift, but a terrible God because the other reality is, okay, well, maybe you're not at the center of the universe. Well, it's either you or something you have put there. Money is the center of my universe. Sex is the center of my universe. Achieving something is the center of my universe. Being respected is the center of my universe. This car I have been lusting after since I was 20 is the center of my universe. Whatever it is. The reality is this creation, when placed in the center of the universe, makes a terrible God. But this Psalm, Psalm 8, reorients us and says, no, no, no creation. If you will place God at the center of the universe, all of creation becomes a wonderful gift.
15 · Explains the psalm's surprising contrast between enemies/avengers and babies: God has embedded more glory in an infant than the most powerful human tyrant could manufacture through self-aggrandizement
Now, to illustrate, the psalmist uses an unusual illustration here. So he talks about the enemy and the avenger, and he contrasts them with babies. That's what he's doing. And you're thinking, I'm not. Okay, I'm. I'm going with you here, Psalmist. Why the contrast between powerful, strong enemies and babies? Right? This doesn't make a ton of sense on first glance. Well, think about it this way. What it's saying is that when you have the enemy and the avenger, they think they're tough, they think they're powerful. They think that they're strong. They think they're undefeated. They think they think they're glorious. But on the other hand, God has put more glory and power and awe and might in an infant than the strongest dictator could ever dream of achieving, Right? You think about this. What do dictators love to do? They love to build statues of themselves. They love to have their name big. They love to have parades for themselves. Like, okay, you know, Lord's looking down and going, okay, I see what you did there. You organized some guys in a line. Great, great job, bud. Meanwhile, right, we have three kids, right? Meanwhile, in one strand of a child's DNA is more glory, awe, and power than those dictators could ever dream of achieving.
16 · Makes the theological claim that undergirds the dignity of every human being: the image of God creates a visible (metaphorically speaking) aura of divine glory around each person
That in every Single human being that lives and breathes and walks around there is in a. If I could say it this way, a halo of the image of God, a shimmer and shine of God's glory themselves.
17 · Illustrates the inherent glory of human beings through the universal experience of being captivated by a baby's presence
Look, I love when everybody just gets absolutely distracted when somebody brings a cute baby to, like, a meeting at church or something. I've led meetings at church. I love having babies. You know, occasionally somebody be like, oh, we're gonna. We're bringing our baby to the. This meeting. And like, okay, it's not a problem. And the baby will do cute things. And I can just feel like that everybody's eyes go from me to the baby, and I'm like, yeah, I lost the meeting. We're just gonna hang out with the baby now. Right? But. But the reason that happens is there is something beautiful and powerful and glorious in creation and especially in human beings.
18 · Applies step two with both diagnosis and prescription: if life feels drab, the problem is not the world but your vision—you're squinting instead of opening your eyes
And so what this psalm is saying is, look, if you are oriented rightly, if the Lord is the center of the universe, you begin to see the glory of God shimmering and shining all over the place. So the implication is this is not. This is going to make a terrible God, but it makes an amazing gift to us. And when things are rightly ordered, we see the glory of God everywhere. And look, I want to challenge you. If your life feels drab and cold and boring, I think you're squinting and not opening your eyes to the glory of God all over the place, in the sunsets and babies and skies and stars and all over you. This. This wonderful, glorious world. Yes, it's broken. We're going to talk about that. But there are still glorious glimmers of the glory of God everywhere. Do you see it? Do you see it? Sunsets. I think El Paso should just rebrand as the land of eternal sunsets. I think we have the best sunsets. I'll stack them up against anybody in the world. I love them, right? We have indoor plumbing. Somebody made that in the image of God. It's glorious. Open your eyes to the glory of the universe that God has placed there.
19 · Marks the structural shift from step two (seeing glory) to step three (finding your place), with slight repetition for emphasis
Third, open your eyes, then. Find your place in the universe. Find your place in the universe.
20 · Exposes the rhetorical movement of the psalm: from cosmic vastness (the heavens, moon, stars) to human smallness ("what is man?") to surprising elevation ("crowned with glory and honor")
Notice the transition in verse three. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place. So contrast that with what's in verse four. 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.
21 · States the core claim of step three: humanity's place in the universe is neither achieved through performance nor discovered through introspection, but graciously given by God
Do you want to find your place in the universe. Look. That's one of the reasons I think we are so deeply unhappy. According to that survey, we are longing for meaning and purpose. We are longing to find our place in the universe. And often, either, as I said, we. We either think, I need to achieve something because if I do, then I'll have a place in the universe, or I need to discover something, so then I'll have a place in the universe. Soulmate is radically different. You don't achieve your place. You don't discover your place. You are gifted your place. You're given it by God himself.
22 · Unpacks the phrase "you are mindful of him" to establish God's constant, attentive awareness of each human being
And just look at these. These. These words that used to describe how the Lord gives us a particular glorious place of purpose in the universe. It says, what is man? That you are mindful of him. This phrase basically means that we are on the mind of God. This astounds me. In the vast universe above us and around us, in the trillions on trillions on trillions of atoms swirling through this universe, the Lord is mindful of you. It's not as though you slip his mind at times and you got to kind of wave your hands to get his attention back.
23 · Illustrates God's constant mindfulness through a childhood memory: discovering his father kept a picture of them together at work, revealing that even when physically absent, he remained in his father's thoughts
Think of it this way. Years ago, as a kid, I didn't realize this till later, but years ago, as a kid, I assumed when my dad went to work, he forgot about me. And so that when he came back, I, like, reintroduced myself to him, like, hey, you remember me. I'm your son. And then I remember going to my dad's office and seeing his. I can still see it in my mind's eye, just the way he had his office set up. And his mouse pad was a picture of me and him at the beach. And it was like something clicked in my mind. Oh, my dad doesn't forget about me when he's at work. I'm right there all the time. All the time. That is what Psalm 8 is saying that. That God does not forget about you and then have to remember you. He is mindful of humanity, and he is mindful of each human being all the time. That's glorious.
24 · Expounds the second phrase ("you care for him") to establish that God's affections are already inclined toward humanity—we don't have to manufacture His care through performance or pestering
And not only is he mindful of you, it says, and the Son of man, that you care for him. So not only is he mindful of us, but his affections are inclined toward us. Often we. We come to the Lord thinking, I need to work something up to get his affections inclined toward me as a human being. I don't know if you guys have experienced this with your toddlers. Maybe it's just mine, but they will do this. They will ask for your Attention this way. Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom. They'll just keep saying it. And so you go, I hear you, right? Dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad. Hey, hey, dad. Hey, hey, hey. Dad, dad, dad. I'm just like, buddy, I. I'm right here. Often that's what we assume we must do with the Lord. We've got to get his affections inclined to us. We got to get his attention inclined to us. Not so in Psalm 8. He is mindful of us, and he cares for us.
25 · Expounds verse 5 to establish humanity's unique positioning: slightly lower than angels in celestial hierarchy but crowned with glory and honor—a royal dignity conferred by God Himself
And then it gets even better. In verse five, you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings. Meaning. Meaning than the angels in terms of. Of celestial glory. You have crowned him with glory and honor. Look at that word. Crowned humanity. Crowned those made in God's image with glory and honor.
26 · Makes the diagnostic claim connecting contemporary despair to worldview: the culture teaches that humans are accidental products of randomness, resulting in despair
This is astounding. There. Let me just say this. There, I think, is a underlying despair and restlessness in our generations, because deep down, people believe what they have been taught to believe, which is that they don't matter and they are the product of a bunch of random coincidences in the universe. Right? How do you expect people to act in response to that? This gives human beings dignity and value and worth. That when we're separated from, we despair. Rightly, the despair is because we're actually believing what we've been taught to believe. But Psalm 8 says that there is a better way.
27 · Grounds Psalm 8's anthropology in Genesis 1-2 through explicit canonical cross-reference
The Bible says that there is a better way. All the way back. This is an echo all the way back of Genesis 1 and 2, which lays out what creation is and what humanity is. And in Genesis 1:27, it says, so God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female. He created them. Meaning that God has given a place. God given. Has given humanity a place in the universe that is unique in all creation. That human beings, male and female, bear the. The mark and image of God. That by simply breathing and walking and speaking, they bear the image of God. They display the glory of God.
28 · States the consequence of forgetting the imago Dei: a felt loss of place in the universe—precisely the despair diagnosed at the sermon's opening
The tragedy is that when human beings forget this or turn away from this, they feel like they have no place in the universe.
29 · Illustrates the image of God through the escape room mirror analogy: a mirror is useless in darkness but gloriously functional when light shines on it
Look, last. Last night, my siblings and I, we're doing an escape room. I don't know if anybody's done an escape room. We did one locally here, and I'm going to spoil a tiny part of it. So Evan, don't get mad at me because he's employed by the skate. The escape room. I don't know if I'm allowed. Did I have to decide? Actually, I thought this morning, did I sign a non disclosure agreement that I wouldn't talk about the escape room. I don't remember. So we're just going to do it. And at one point in the escape room, you unlock a box and you get a little mirror and you're like, great, a mirror. I can see my stressed out, anxious face in this mirror as the clock is going down. And so we throw it to the side. It's not a key, it's not a code, it's just a mirror. It's just doesn't do it. And we're playing with it. Does it do anything? It doesn't do anything until later on in the escape room we figured out if you touch this thing and do this other thing, a light shines and the mirror can be used to redirect the light to another thing that unlocks a third thing, right? If you're, if you're going, that sounds awesome. Escape rooms are for you. If you're going, that sounds like a nightmare. Escape rooms are not for you. But look, we have this little mirror and it's useless until it comes in contact with light and is used for a good purpose, right? That is what human beings are. When we reflect the image of God. It's full of light, it's useful, it's glorious. When we aren't reflecting the image of God, well, we're despairing. We're lost.
30 · Applies step three with pastoral directness: cease striving for a place (achievement model) or despairing at lacking one (discovery model) and instead rest in the place God has already given
And so Psalm 8 says this. Have you been striving for a place in the universe? Have you been despairing that you don't have a place in the universe? Find your place in Psalm 8. Rest in this, brothers and sisters. Rejoice in this. Your place has been grace gifted to you by a generous Creator. And you don't have to think. If I finally do blank, if I finally finish the degree, then I'll have value. If my dad is finally proud of me, then I'll have value. If I finally get married and somebody affirms me in that way, I'll have value. No, friend. Psalm 8 says, you have dignity, value and glory just by being made in the image of God. Rest in that.
31 · Marks the structural shift from step three (place) to step four (work), with the phrase "corner of the universe" signaling a move from cosmic positioning to local vocation
Alright, fourth step, find your place in the universe. And then fourth, find your work in a corner of the universe.
32 · Expounds verses 6-8 to establish that dominion—humanity's God-given work—is not a post-fall curse but a pre-fall gift
So we go from humanity's place in the universe to humanity's work. In verse 6, you have given him dominion over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and ox, 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 sea. Not only does God give humanity a place, he gives humanity glorious purpose, glorious work to do. And that work is found in that word, dominion. That's an intentional callback to Genesis chapter two, where God gives man even before the fall, where work to do in the form of exercising dominion.
33 · Unpacks the Genesis 2 background of dominion (work and keep) and contextualizes it for the agrarian audience: the animals listed in Psalm 8 are precisely where they spend their working hours
So we could go to Genesis 2. We don't have time. I encourage you to go there this week. But essentially what happens is human beings are given the raw materials of the garden, the raw materials of creation. And Genesis 2:15 says that Adam is. Is there to work and keep the garden, work and keep. Now, this language would have been very familiar to those in ancient Israel, because, remember, it's very much an agrarian society. So where on the farm do you spend most of your time with these things? With the sheep, with the oxen, with the beasts of the field, with the birds you shoot, with the fish you catch, with whatever is, you know, floating around. That is where you spend your nine to five life. So what the Lord is doing is he is reminding his people of the glorious purpose behind the work that they do. And he does it in. In this word, dominion.
34 · Defines the first component of dominion: cultivation—taking raw materials and organizing them into something beautiful and functional
Now, again, as we talked about it means dominion means to work and to keep the garden. So to work the garden means to cultivate the garden. So you. You take the raw materials of creation and turn them into something glorious.
35 · Illustrates cultivation through the contrast between amateur and professional landscaping
Now, one of my friends in the church is Jonathan Matthews, who is a landscape architect. And before I met Jonathan, I thought, okay, this is the way landscaping works. You grab whatever plants are around at Home Depot and you put them in pots and you put them out there. And then I kept wondering, when I do that, why do the plants die? But you get to know Jonathan, and he knows what plants you can plant. He knows about the drainage is important. He thinks about sight lines. He thinks about, what's this going to look like in the winter? What's this going to look like in the summer? What about the spring? What about the fall? Right. He takes all the raw materials that I saw as just random, and he organizes them into pleasing spaces that make you go, ah, this is nice, right? That is what humans do. God is the creator. We are the cultivators. God is the maker. We are the workers. We take the raw materials and turn it into something beautiful and glorious.
36 · Generalizes the principle across vocations: cultivation is not unique to landscaping but inherent in all legitimate human work—baking, engineering, and countless other fields
You do that with baking, right? You do that with engineering. You do that with one of a thousand fields you cultivate.
37 · Defines the second component of dominion: keeping or guarding—protecting what is good
And dominion also means to keep, or to, you could say guard creation, to protect Creation. So think about, you know, friends that I've had over the years that are. That are law enforcement officers or those in the military service. They exist. Their jobs exist because they are keeping. They are guarding something. They're guarding what should be guarded. Meaning that we have something good and they protect it, right? They see. You see these things working together. You cultivate things, you work things, and then you protect and keep things.
38 · Introduces the third aspect of dominion work in a fallen world: restoration
And then there's one aspect now that's a reality in our fallen world. The next chapter over from Genesis 2 is Genesis 3, where sin enters the world. And part of the curse of sin is that thorns and weeds grow. Now, meaning you're thinking, okay, well, the work that you're describing, Ricky, doesn't sound like my office. I would love to do that, ideally. But instead, I have to write memos, right? I have to write a memo because people forgot the memo I sent last week. I'm gonna write a new memo or I have to do this thing because my co worker messed up yesterday, right? Why is it frustrating then, Ricky? Well, because of Genesis 3, thorns and weeds and frustrations are a reality in our fallen world. And so part of human being, take human beings restoring dominion, is that we restore little bits of creation and point back to God's good design.
39 · Develops the restoration aspect with concrete vocational examples: maintenance workers, doctors, physical therapists
Think of. Of. Of people who do maintenance work, right? Stuff breaks. It just breaks. I. I can't tell you how many times. I've been at the church for a number of years. And so something will break. And I'll ask the person repairing it, why did this break? And he just looks at me. It was old. It was, you know, it just did. But why? It just does. Okay? Just like they don't have a good explanation. We just live in a fallen world. Okay, so there are jobs in which you are restoring parts of creation. This is what doctors and medical professionals do, right? We didn't need physical therapists, doctors, nurse practitioners. In Genesis 1 and 2, your whole vocation exists because of Genesis 3. And I guess you'll have to find a new one in heaven. But right now, we really need you. And you do good and glorious work because you are taking bits of broken creation and seeking to restore them back to the image God made for them, back to the glory God designed for them.
40 · Applies step four to Monday morning: whatever work you do will be both frustrating (Genesis 3) and glorious (Genesis 1-2)
So this is where this text will matter tomorrow. Tomorrow you're going to get up and you're going to do some kind of work. It might be pouring concrete, it might be teaching, it might be changing diapers, it might be sending invoices, it might be organizing spreadsheets. And I can tell you two things about that work. It is going to be frustrating because of Genesis 3, and it is going to be glorious because of Genesis 1 and 2. And so what you've got to get good at, what we've got to get good at is finding not just our place in the universe, but seeing the work that God has given us as good and meaningful and full of purpose.
41 · Rejects both vocational idolatry ("dream job" perfectionism) and vocational nihilism ("just whatever") in favor of a third way: all legitimate work mirrors God's glory in a particular corner of creation
This is one of my frustrations in our world today. Often people think of whatever they do nine to five as either the perfect fulfillment of what they were meant to do in the world or just whatever. That's not the Bible's view. It's not as though, well, when you finally get that dream job, then you'll, your work will be meaningful. No, pouring concrete is meaningful. Teaching 5 year olds how to read or their letters is meaningful. Sending invoices is meaningful. Fixing engineering problems is meaningful. Solving it problems is meaningful. Why? Because when you do it in your little corner of the universe you are displaying, you are mirroring the glory of God out into that part of creation.
42 · Pastoral charge to resist both external and internal voices devaluing work
So don't let anybody ever tell you the work you do is not meaningful. Don't let yourself tell you that the work you're doing is not meaningful. It matters to God. Look, it might not even matter to your boss. It might not even matter to your co workers or your family, but it matters to God. And if it matters to God, it should matter to us.
43 · Brief imperative linking the theology just expounded to Monday morning action: carry this truth into your workday
So remember that tomorrow
44 · Marks the shift to the fifth and final step: joining the song of praise
and fifth and last join the song of praise in the universe.
45 · Expounds the inclusio (bookend structure) of the psalm: it begins and ends with God, not humanity
The psalm ends as it began in verse nine. O Lord our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. Notice this. This psalm is all about the place of God's people in creation. But it doesn't start and end with God's people. It doesn't start and end with us. It starts and ends with the Lord. This is a song of praise.
46 · Makes the integrating claim: praise is not merely the fifth step but the mechanism enabling all the previous steps
And one of the beauties of this psalm is that if you want to do steps one through four, praise is the way to do them. Here's what I mean. Do you want to re center the universe not being about yourself? Then praise the Lord, right? When you praise the Lord, it reminds you, oh wait, it's about more than me, isn't it? You remove yourself from the center of the universe with praise, right? Or, or when you think, okay, I'm just not seeing anything good in my life, right? Everything's drab and cold and rainy and grumpy. It's like, well, praise the Lord. When you begin to praise the Lord, when you lift your Eyes you begin to see in the. In the light of who God is. All of the. The rest of creation is glorious. You praise God for your wife, your kids, your car, your sunset, your commute, your whatever it is, the song you heard. They become places of praise when you see them as such. And then praise enables you to find your place in the universe. You become a happy planet orbiting around the sun, not trying to achieve and you know a place in the universe or discover a place in the universe. You just praise the Lord and you happily orbit the center of the universe. And then even your work becomes a platform through which, hear me on this, your work becomes a platform for praise to the God of the universe, even. Look, there have been times, let's just be honest, I have done projects and gotten right up to where I'm going to release the project, and then something changes and I. All that work is now meaningless, right? Does anybody happen to relate to that? Like, you work really hard on a project, on a presentation, on a thing, on a design or whatever, and you're like right there about to release it, and then it's like, nope, different direction. And you're like, what the heck? It was meaningless. Psalm 8 says, it's never meaningless. If all of that was for him. If the Lord sees your design, if the Lord sees the presentation, if the Lord is pleased, then all of our work has dignity, value, and worth.
47 · Closes the loop: the sermon began with a cultural crisis and ends with doxology—the solution to unhappiness is praise, which reorients all of life
So we start where we began, praising the Lord.
48 · Introduces the Christological reading by acknowledging the gap between Psalm 8's vision of humanity and humanity's actual performance
Now, one last connection here, because there is a surprising reference in Hebrews to Psalm 8, and the reference is not what you would expect. The reference in Hebrews, in Hebrews rather is that Psalm 8 is about Jesus. Psalm 8 is cited as being about Jesus. And you're going, okay, well, I don't see Jesus anywhere in here. Well, think about this. Psalm 8 speaks of humanity having a glorious purpose. But when we look at the trajectory of Psalm 8 and look at what humanity actually does, humanity always falls short, doesn't it? Don't we fight God for the center of the universe instead of rejoicing? Don't we seek to achieve or discover our purpose instead of resting in the Lord's purpose? Don't we use our work for selfish ends and not for the praise of God? Don't we do all that? So every time we see Psalm 8, it's like, we should be this, but we're this. We should be this, but we're this.
49 · Makes the Christological claim: Jesus is the true human, the one person in history whose life perfectly matches Psalm 8's portrait
And in Jesus Christ, we finally find the first man in the universe, the first human being. That. When you look at Psalm 8 and you look at him you go. The pictures match. That's him. He truly fulfilled all that humanity was meant to be. He was the perfect man. He was the man that God designed humanity to be. But humanity had fallen short.
50 · Expounds the soteriological mechanism: Christ's work involves both humiliation (crown of thorns) and exaltation (crowned with many crowns), and His perfect humanity covers those who fall short
And then what does Jesus do as the perfect man? What was his work? Well, out of care and mindfulness for humanity, he goes to the cross. Rather than being crowned immediately with glory and praise, he's crowned with a crown of thorns. And he does that so that all those who fall short of the picture of Psalm 8 could have their photograph as it were, covered by the photograph of Jesus. And as a result, Jesus is crowned with many crowns. He's crowned with all the crowns. He is not only the glorious God who shines glory into the universe, he is the glorious man who reflects glory as God intended, out into the universe.
51 · Three-part summary of the psalm's function: (1) sets the ideal, (2) exposes our failure, (3) points to Christ as both fulfillment and substitute
And so the reality is this Psalm 8 reminds us what we should be. It reminds us what we aren't. And then it reminds us of who Christ is for us.
52 · Evangelistic appeal to those outside Christ: Psalm 8's vision can become true for you through union with Christ
And so here's the good news, friend. If you are outside of Christ and you're like, man, I am unhappy. The part of the sermon I kind of connected with the most was, why am I unhappy? Right. If that's where you are, look to Psalm 8 through the lens of Christ today. There is a way to have all of your failures covered by the perfect man of Psalm 8 so that all that Psalm 8 describes can become true for you. You who are once far away from God are brought in and find a place with Him. You who once in useless work can find good, meaningful work with him and a future trajectory of restoration in him. Will you not come to Christ today? But it's costly. It means you can't be the planet at the center of the universe. But it is glorious when you find your orbit around him.
53 · Applies to believers through extended orchestra analogy: Psalm 8 functions as the tuning note that brings all of life into proper harmony
And for all of us as Christians, let me encourage you to allow Psalm 8 to retune your heart to the song of the universe. Psalm 8. For me, the way I think about it is, you know how when you have an orchestra, I never got to play orchestra growing up, but my son recently got through a couple years in orchestra. And remember that. Have you ever been to that weird sound that's like. Well, all the instruments do that before they start playing. I never knew what that was for. I play the piano. It's ready to go, right? Ding, ding, ding. Yeah, we're good. But rather in the orchestra, though, it's always that. And it's right. It's an A. Everybody's like. And everybody is tuning to the song. So that whatever follows is glorious. You know what happened without that note? Absolute chaos. Right? It would not sound like Star wars. It would sound like right. That retunes everyone that moment of tuning. That's what Psalm 8 does for us.
54 · Final charge summarizing the sermon's four themes (purpose, the Lord, place, work) under the ultimate aim: God's glory
So brothers and sisters, let's allow Psalm 8 to retune us to our purpose, to the Lord, to our place in the universe and to our work that God may be glorified this week. Amen.
55 · Closing prayer recapitulating the sermon's movements: invitation to unbelievers, recentering for believers, opening eyes to glory, grounding in identity, and a specific pastoral intercession for those with body image issues
Oh Lord, we ask for your help this morning. First I ask for your grace on anyone who may realize that they have been trying to live at the center of the universe and it has not resulted in happiness, but only in sorrow and frustration. Lord, I pray that you would invite them through the work of your son to join the song of the universe again. Lord, may they feel your care for them, your mindfulness of them. May they come to Christ willing to lay their lives down and take up the song that they were made for. And Lord, I pray for all of us. Pray for all of us who are in Christ. That you would Lord, in this moment as we close, Lord, our assumption is that somewhere in life we're trying to be the center of the universe and it's making us unhappy. Whether that's our marriage or our job or our hobby, whatever it is, God, I pray you'd help us identify it and give us the grace to lay that down today to recenter the universe on the Lord of glory. And Lord, I pray that you would then open our eyes to the beautiful things that you have made to the glories of creation around us. Lord, help us not to live grumpy cold lives, but rather glorious joy filled lives wondering at your creation. Lord, help us to be rooted and grounded in our place in the universe as a result. Lord, help us to Lord, just feel led to pray for a particular category right now. Specifically pray for anyone dealing with body image issues. Lord, if there is a in particular a daughter of Christ here today dealing with persistent body image issues and fears and frustrations of what they want to be, what they aren't. Lord, I pray that you would free them from that in the name of Jesus as they find their value and purpose not in what others think of their body, not in what they think of their body, but rather in what you think of them, that you are mindful of them, that you care for them, that you have crowned them with good things. And Lord, I pray for all of us as we rest and worship today, but prepare to go into the work you have for us tomorrow. May we do it with a new perspective. May we do it retuned to the purpose and song of the universe. In Jesus name, amen.