Psalm 8:1-9

1 O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens. 2 You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength, silencing your enemies and all who oppose you. 3 When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—the moon and the stars you set in place—4 what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? 5 Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor. 6 You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority— 7 the flocks and the herds and all the wild animals, 8 the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that swims the ocean currents. 9 O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!

Last time we saw that we are the crown of God’s creation. Reading Genesis 1 is like looking through a telescope at Creation. The first chapter tells us about each day of creation, but there’s very little detail telling us how God did what He did. It’s like an overview, but then chapter 2 kicks in and instead of looking through a telescope it’s like looking through a microscope where God takes us back to the 6th day of creation, going into great detail. In Genesis 1:26 – God says, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” Not only does Genesis reveal that we are created to be image bearers of God but we have been called to “rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” Before we unpack this second statement let me ask you a challenging question about the first one, are you reflecting the image of your creator or that of the culture? We were created to reflect our Creator as well as care for His creation. We were placed in dominion over everything that was created not to destroy and abuse it, or indulge our short-lived pleasures, but to govern and manage God’s creation. We are called to be stewards of His creation not squanderers. This truth has profound implications not only for the environment, progress in technology, and good governance but also us finding our worth in His words. God’s call for us to partake in His creation speaks to work that is worthwhile but we need to be careful that we don’t try to find our worth in our work. Many of us are living limited lives because we are trying to gain our worth from our work instead of the One who invited us into His work. When you try to find your worth in your work, it’s not long before work wears you out and instead of work being a joy it’s just a job. Our worth is not found in what we do but in the One we are doing it for. While God places great importance here on caring for creation we need to remember that we are called to work for creation not worship it. Throughout history mankind has repeatedly tried to create a religion out of worshipping creation instead of worshipping the Creator. There are many today who have fallen under the spell of created things and so have placed themselves beneath creation. They have elevated creation above man the crown of God’s creation, exulting creation at the expense of the Creator. We are called to be stewards of God’s creation not slaves to it. We worship the one who gave us the work, we don’t worship the work. This command to care for God’s creation implies that there was work involved, even in the perfect setting of the Garden. Work did not come as a result of the fall but rather at the request of the Father. To rule gives us dominion to steward the Earth and its resources under the sovereignty Of God. An essential purpose of God for humanity is made clear in this verse: “Let them have dominion…” From the beginning, God intended human beings to be caretakers of his creation. The role given to us by our creator is to be good stewards of our surroundings. Yet, there is another reason he created us, in the second and third chapters of Genesis we discover a most amazing truth. God created human beings so that He might have a relationship not only with Him but also one another. We were made in “his image” that we might be capable of Ruler-ship and relationship. In John 15:16 we discover God’s blueprint for our lives, “You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and I have appointed you, that you might go and bear fruit and keep on bearing, and that your fruit may be lasting, so that whatever you ask the Father in My Name [as presenting all that I AM], He may give it to you.” God has appointed you, which means He has planted you to be faithful so that you will produce permanent fruitful. It is also here in John 15:4-5 that Jesus reminds us that successful ruler-ship is tied to our relationship, “4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. 5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” Our successful ruler-ship of His creation is tied to and dependent on our relationship with the Creator. Our connected to Christ determines our care for His creation. Today society has placed greater emphasis on recycling than on relationship but what we discover is that living for the Savior is what results in a life of service and stewardship. What about you are you living out His words of worth, or are you worshipping the work? Are you pursuing God’s plan and purpose for your life? God owns everything that exists and we are merely managers of the Masters property. He is the maker, owner, proprietor, possessor, source and sustainer and we are the stewards.

Psalm 8:1-9

1 O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens. 2 You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength, silencing your enemies and all who oppose you. 3 When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—the moon and the stars you set in place—4 what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? 5 Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor. 6 You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority— 7 the flocks and the herds and all the wild animals, 8 the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that swims the ocean currents. 9 O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!

Psalm 8 begins by proclaiming the power of God and then goes on to ask an intriguing question: “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?” This question what is man, at its heart is asking what are we worth? Now according to evolution, man or people, are nothing more than the end product of a chance collision of molecules. Worldly wisdom would say that we came into existence as the result of an unplanned accident of nature. We could refer to this kind of thinking as going from goo to you by way of the zoo. At the core of this theory, you and I are not that much different from the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, or the slug in the mud for that matter. Because we are all pretty much the result of the same purposeless interaction of atoms, thus we really have no intrinsic value. We have no value to really speak of that sets us apart from the rest of the world. Unfortunately many of us today are letting the secular instead of scripture speak into our sense of self-worth. As a result, there are many whose behavior reflects their belief in a theory of chance, and they agree with the evaluation of evolution that we’re not worth very much. So they start to wonder if anybody would even miss them if they were gone or if it even matters that they exist. But the Word of God doesn’t agree with worldly wisdom because the Bible teaches that you are NOT an accident. The Bible proclaims that you were planned and that you have purpose. Your value is not based in the world, it is based on the Word of God because God doesn’t make junk. Psalm 8 not only asks the question: “what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” But it answers that question: “You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 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.” You see while evolution sees man as one step above the apes, Scripture sees him as one step beneath the angels. You are important to God and this is the same message that is proclaimed on the pages of the first book of the Bible, Genesis. The first book in the Bible is the foundational book of the Bible. It is the revelation of God’s will to man and explains in just a few chapters, how the human race was brought into existence through the power and personal activity of God. It reveals that the first man and woman were the objects of God’s love and special affection. They were created “in His image” (Genesis 1:26-27), and given the privilege of regular communication with Him (Genesis 2:15-17; 3:8). One man and one woman were appointed, not only as the progenitors of our race but also custodians and caretakers over His creation. They were created with the characteristics of mind, emotions, personality, and will. They were made creative, imaginative, inventive, artistic, and capable of loving and being loved. In Genesis chapter one we find a simple narrative of the creation of the world, and while it is simple, its scope and depth are profound. For the creation account of Genesis point to the creation of humanity as the high point of God’s creation, placing profound value of human life. You see man is the crowning work of God’s creation which is not a statement of arrogance but one of adoration. Verse 5 says “and crowned them with glory and honor” and in Ephesians 2:10 the Bible tells us that “we are God’s masterpiece.” Our problem is that either we don’t internalize this truth or we take this truth to heart but only believe that it has bearing on us. You see there is a dangerous tendency in a corrupted culture to demonize people who aren’t like us. If we don’t apply God’s truth to everyone we will be in danger of discriminating and demoralizing those who are different than us. We desperately need, to begin with the book of Genesis so that we don’t miss the treasure of this truth not just for us but for all. As image-bearers of God, we carry something of the character and nature of God. The image of God, tells us that all people, regardless of whether you like them or not are created by God with sanctity and dignity. No matter whether theist or atheist, rich or poor, African or Asian, black or white, male or female, all human beings are created in the “image” and “likeness” of God. Genesis 1:26 tells us that “God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness….'” This Scripture speaks to our significance because at every other point of creation God said, “Let there be (something),” and then it came into being and God pronounced it good. Without making any effort to plan or consider with himself what he should do, God determined that light and darkness should be, that land should be separated from water, that plants should grow on the land, and so on. But here at the apex of creation God in counsel with the trinity said ‘Let us make man in our image” We can also see how important we are to God by the way that Genesis reveals how God felt about His creation. On the first day God said “Let there be light!” and there was light. And the Bible says “and it was GOOD.” The 2nd day God created the earth’s atmosphere and then we’re told “and it was GOOD.” On day 3 God created vegetation – the trees and the grass and the shrubs and again it says “and that was GOOD.” Then on the 4th day God created the Sun, Moon and the stars and said “that was GOOD” On the 5th day God created the birds of the air and fish of the sea and He saw that “that was GOOD.” But then on the 6th day after God had created man we are told that He said “it was VERY GOOD.” Man was also distinct in that with every other part of His creation God merely spoke and they appeared. He wanted a daisy or a deer, all He had to do was speak it into existence. But when God created man He climbed down into the dust and got His hands dirty. Not only did God touch us and not just talk us into existence but He also breathed the breath of life into us. Nothing else in all of His creation involved this degree of attention, WHY? Because this part of creation was something that was made in GOD’S IMAGE. You and I are special and valuable for of all creation only we were “crowned with glory and honor” Psalm 8:5. Today don’t just let this truth touch your life but reach out and touch the life of someone else with this truth, treating them with dignity and decency.