Two Things God Has Ordained
Psalm 8
Introduction
I want to begin with a few comments about the Athanasian Creed that we just confessed on this Trinity Sunday. Then I want to focus on the things God has ordained for our salvation and for the good of this world. We will especially we looking at Psalm 8 which we just said in our introit (entrance) psalm at the beginning of our worship this morning.
The Athanasian Creed
A creed is a succint summary of the Christian faith. Once a person told me that they grew up in a church that didn't believe in creeds. They despised them. The only thing they used was the Bible. I responded, "So when you worshiped, the only thing that was ever spoken was the Bible." "No," they said, "The pastor talked about the Bible and even used flip-charts to explain it." I then explained that when that pastor or any other person says, "This is what the Bible teaches," whatever comes out of his mouth next is a creed. All Christians rely on creeds whether they admit it or not. The only question is whether the creed they are using or making up at any time is a good creed. Is it a good summary of the Bible or not? When Jesus gave the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations, He didn't say, "Go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and hand them a Bible and walk away." He said, "Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you." In order to teach, we have to summarize. We have to use concise statements of truth drawn from the Bible so that we can memorize them and hold on to them.
The Bible uses many creeds such as Deuteronomy 6.4 "Hear O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one." Peter spoke a great creed when he confessed to Jesus, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God" (Matthew 16.16). The earliest Christian creed is found in 1 Corinthians 15.3-4 when Paul said, "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 (and that) He was buried, and (that) He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures."
As Christians began to baptize and teach they had to develop other creeds or statements of faith especially when they responded to false teachings. One of the oldest creeds is the Apostles' Creed used to prepare people for baptism. The Nicene Creed expanded this creed to combat the false teaching that Jesus wasn't really true God. The Athanasian Creed went even further to emphasize the complete unity of the Triune God and also the two natures of Jesus as God and Man. These creeds and others are used to lock down the important truths that the Bible teaches us for two important reasons: 1. So that we can remember them ourselves; and, 2. So that we can teach them to others. Now look at Psalm eight with me to see what it teaches about God and about all of us.
God Is Above the Heavens
Pantheism is a very old, and still a very popular, false teaching about God. The word pantheism literally means all is god. Pantheists believe that the mountains and rivers, the sun, moon, and stars, and you and I are all a part of God. I believe that this view of God began when men didn't want to be subservient to God or to think that anything was above them. Yet they wanted to hold on to some belief in God. So they made themselves God along with the rest of the cosmos. Pantheists love nature because they believe nature is God, and they love themselves because they believe they are God also. Pantheism is the religion reflected by the account of the Tower of Babel. There men rejected the Creator and attempted to build a tower that would reach to the heavens in order to make a name for themselves. Pantheism is the religion reflected in modern humanism in which men think they are the most highly evolved creatures and that it is their duty to keep the universe going.
But all of this contradicts obvious truths. We didn't create ourselves, and we are not accidents of nature. The sun, moon and stars are glorious, but whoever made them is even more glorious. This is why David said, "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. 3 When I look at 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, and the son of man that you care for him?"
When I look at the heavens, what should I think? Should I think the sun is God? Many have believed that. Should I think that I am God or a part of God? Many believe that. Not at all. As David said the Lord is above all that. His glory is above the heavens. But as soon as we believe that we also have to wonder, why does God care about me? The doctrine of Creation by itself is a very scary doctrine? If there is a God so great and powerful as to create the entire universe, then how do I stand before Him? God wants us to be intimidated by this. He wants us to stand in awe and fear before Him so that we don't attempt to raise ourselves up as God. For as soon as we do that, we cut ourselves off from His salvation.
God Crowned Man with Honor and Glory
David answers his own question with another profound truth: "Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, 7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. 9 O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!"
Just as God ordained Himself above heaven and earth, so also He crowned man with honor and glory. Human beings are a very special part of God's creation. God created them to have dominion over the works of God's hands - His creation. One of the great false teachings that has emerged from the pantheists and evolutionists is that man is just another animal. A popular online biology textbook, CK-12, teaches that human beings are primates very similar to chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans. Many years ago I was given a tour of the gross anatomy lab at Washington University School of Medicine. In this lab you can see the whole human body dissected and perserved in glass cabinets. The professor, a creationist, showed me the dissection of human skin - All the various layers. He then asked, what animal has the closest kind of skin to a human being? I couldn't really think of anything. Then he said, "the pig." Humans actually bear some similarity to swine. This is why insulin was first taken from swine and why we still use heart valves from swine in human beings. Human beings share similarities with many different kinds of animals. But those similarities are far surpassed by the differences. Human beings surpass all animals in language skills, intelligence, abstract thought, conscience, creativity, emotions, and in many other ways. To say that humans are just animals is a glaringly ignorant thing to say.
But an even more important thing to think about is the question "Why?" Why did God crown mankind with honor and glory. Psalm eight doesn't really answer that question, but many other psalms and the rest of the Bible do answer it. God created the world to show forth His great wisdom and power. God created man to show forth His great love. Only man was created with the ability to reject his Creator and to rebell against Him. Sadly this is exactly what happened. But God showed His love by sacrificing Himself through His Son Jesus to save, redeem, and reunite Himself with the crown of His creation. The Apostle John wrote: "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." (1 John 4.10 NIV). And again, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law having become a curse for us, as it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree'" (Galatians 3.13).
Conclusion
Right now you may not feel that you deserve to be crowned with honor and glory. You may feel weighed down with sin and guilt. But God knows, and God forgives in Christ, and God wipes all of that away. You may feel worn out and wrecked by disease. But God doesn't think this way. Remember that He is the one who takes what sin destroys and heals. "By His stripes," Isaiah said, "we are healed" (53.5). You may feel abandoned by family and friends. Maybe it was something they did, or you did, or both. No matter. The Bible says, "For it pleased the Father that in (Jesus) all the fullness (of God) should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross" (Colossians 1:19-20).
All these things are the true teachings of the Bible. They are the great things that God has ordained and that we confess to ourselves and to the world in our creeds. I believe in God the Father, the Maker of heaven and earth. I believe in God the Son, the Savior of all. I believe in God the Holy Spirit, the Comforter and Sanctifier of my soul. Amen.
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