Sermon on Psalm 8, The Majesty of God in Creation

1. Psalm 8
The Majesty of God in Creation

3. 1. Majesty in Weakness

4. 1. Majesty in Weakness
Out of the mouths of
babes and infants
you have founded a
bulwark because of your
foes,
to silence the enemy and
the avenger. (Verse 2)

5. 1. Majesty in Weakness
Our God contracted to a span
Incomprehensibly made man
Charles Wesley, 1707-1788

6. 1. Majesty in Weakness
Like a stone on the
surface of a still river
Driving the ripples on
forever
Redemption rips through
the surface of time
In the cry of a tiny babe
Bruce Cockburn, 1945-

7. 1. Majesty in Weakness
Blessed are the poor in spirit -
Blessed are the meek
For theirs shall be the
kingdom
That the power mongers seek
Blessed are the dead for love
And those who cry for peace
And those who love the gift of
earth -
May their gene pool increase
Bruce Cockburn, 1945-

8. 1. Majesty in Weakness
The shipwrecked at the stable
are the poor in spirit who feel
lost in the cosmos, adrift on an
open sea, clinging with a life-
and-death desperation to the
one solitary plank …
… The shipwrecked come to the
stable seeking not to possess
but to be possessed, wanting
not peace or a religious high, but
Jesus Christ.
Brennan Manning, 1934-

9. 2. Majesty in Insignificance

10. 2. Majesty in Insignificance
When I look at your heavens, the
work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you
have established;
what are human beings that you
are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?
(Psalm 8, verses 3-4)

11. 2. Majesty in Insignificance
2 – 400,000,000,000 stars in
the Milky Way
170,000,000,000 galaxies in
the observable universe
Source: www.wolframalpha.com

12. 2. Majesty in Insignificance
Third stone from the
sun
Dust in the wind

13. 2. Majesty in Insignificance
‘fifteen different numbers that have to be
exactly what they are for stars and
planets to form, to the tune of one part
in a million and in some cases, one part in
a million million)’
‘That’s why scientists, looking at the
astonishing facts of our universe, use
phrases like ‘fine-tuning’ and ‘cosmic
welcome mat’, and even say things like,
‘The universe looks as if it knew we were
coming’.’
(Page 51)

14. 2. Majesty in Insignificance
Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
and crowned them with glory and honour. (Psalm 8,
verse 5)
You have given them dominion over the works of your
hands;
you have put all things under their feet,
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
(Verses 6-8)

15. 2. Majesty in Insignificance
Creative management
of God’s world
Moral management for
the good of all
A community of good
relationships

16. O LORD, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your
name in all the earth!
(Verses 1 and 9)