balance

Scripture: Psalm 8

Structure:

Introduction
Security
Love
Responsibility
Conclusion

Introduction:

Yippee, Wha-hoo, Go you good thing, On ya mate, Well done, Tu Meke, You are awesome, That was amazing

These words and phrases are different ways in which we express praise
Some of these words and expressions you won’t find in a dictionary but that doesn’t matter – the words themselves are not the main thing
It’s more the feeling we give to those words, the positive intention and energy behind them

This morning we take a break from our sermon series in Ephesians to focus on Psalm 8 – a psalm of David

- In this song David pours out his praise for God’s creative activity – in particular for the security, love and responsibility God gives, which makes our lives functional and meaningful

From verse 1 we read…

O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. ²Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. ³ When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have established, ⁴ what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? ⁵ Yet you have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honour. ⁶ You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet: ⁷ all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, ⁸ the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. ⁹ O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us

[Listen to a recording of children laughing and playing]

Security:

That was a recording of children laughing and playing and having fun

Let’s listen to it again

[Replay the recording of children laughing and playing]
This is what praise sounds like out of the mouth of babes
Children make those sorts of happy sounds when they feel safe and secure – security is the foundation really

Psalm 8 begins and ends with the words…

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

In the original – the word LORD (all in capitals) – actually translates as Yahweh

Yahweh is God’s personal name
It means something like, I am who I am, or I am with you and for you

The LORD is our Sovereign

- A Sovereign is a King or a Queen – the ruler of the realm
- God’s name is God’s reputation & integrity; His greatness and goodness
- David is saying that Yahweh is King of the whole earth – second to none

This is basically a statement of adoration and allegiance

One of the main jobs of the King is security – keeping his people safe

The subject of security is pretty big in the psalms
Whenever you hear a word like ‘strong hold’ or ‘high tower’ or ‘shepherd’ or ‘bulwark’ or similar the psalmist is talking about security
Verse 2 reads…

²Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.

It’s interesting that Psalm 8 (a hymn of praise) comes after 5 other psalms where David calls out for help and deliverance from his foes

David’s praise for the security God gives wasn’t just a theoretical thing
David knew God’s security first hand as someone who lived in a dangerous world and had actual enemies who wanted him dead

The praise of children and infants is pure because children possess a certain innocence

In Matthew 21, after Jesus had cleared the temple of the merchants, we read how the blind and lame came to Jesus and he healed them
Children witnessed this and shouted praise to God because of Jesus, saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David”
When the religious leaders heard the children’s praise they were indignant, so Jesus quoted this verse from Psalm 8 to them
The Pharisees were the foe; they wanted to kill Jesus but the praise of children was Jesus’ defence, his stronghold
God silenced the religious leaders, not through brute force
Not through an overwhelming demonstration of his power and strength
But through the praise of children and infants; through what appears weak and of little account

Just a few days after that the religious leaders conspired to murder Jesus

There was no defence for Jesus on Good Friday, but that was God’s plan
To defeat strength with weakness
Jesus silenced the foe (sin) and the avenger (death) not with overwhelming force – but through his own suffering and humiliation
What looked like Christ’s defeat (on the cross) was actually God’s victory

From 1^st Corinthians chapter 1 we read…

For the message about Christ’s death on the cross is nonsense to those who are being lost; but for us who are being saved it is God’s power…
For what seems to be God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom and what seems to be God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

Now here’s the thing; when what we thought was strong is defeated by what we thought was weak, it has the power to completely change the way we think, so that what we fear most no longer has a hold on us

One of the things children need from parents is security – they need to feel safe

Parents give security to children in a number of ways
In the first two years of life children learn security by the presence of at least one adult who is consistently there for them to care for their needs
In the normal course of events a baby will cry for one of four reasons:
Either they are hungry or they have a dirty nappy or wind or they’re tired
You take care of those four things in a timely way and they will feel safe and secure and learn trust (as opposed to fear)

As kids gets older they still need to be fed but they also need boundaries to make them feel safe and secure; rules and routines that are kind and fair

And if they cross the line then they need to know that it’s not the end of the relationship, that there is a way back
For every mistake there is a remedy

God gives us security and we reveal to our children what God is like by giving them security and love

Love:

Some years ago now our family went to Opito Bay in the Coromandel for a summer holiday (Robyn’s aunty & uncle let us stay in their bach up there)

I have this enduring memory of lying on the concrete at night, with one of our daughters, looking up at the stars
The concrete was still warm, having baked in the sun all day, and the stars were bright because there isn’t much light pollution in Opito Bay
The star light we saw may have been billions of years old and who knows, perhaps some of the stars we were looking at had burnt out thousands of years before we were born
When you think about the vastness of time and space it makes your problems seem very small; it takes your focus off yourself and puts things in proper perspective
The person who looks up to God seldom looks down on other people

In verses 3 & 4 David describes feeling both small and cared for as he gazes up at the stars…

³ When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have established, ⁴ what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?

This is poetry – it’s not science. We are not to conclude that God literally made the moon and stars with his fingers

It’s a metaphor in which God is portrayed as an artist carefully arranging the heavens
Fingers are for fine work – they are for taking care of details
Fingers are gentle and skilled
The fact that God handles the moon and stars with His fingers shows us how big and strong God really is
It also speaks of God’s control over the heavenly bodies
Our lives are not controlled by the moon and stars or the horoscope
God is in control of the constellations, and this should help us to feel secure despite our smallness

The Lord is mindful of us and cares for us

When you love someone they populate your every thought (whether that’s your husband or your wife, your son or your daughter, your friend your sister, brother or whoever); you are mindful of them
You remember them in your prayers, you remember what they asked you to get at the supermarket, you remember their birthday and you send them text messages when you’re not with them
Likewise, when you love someone you care for them – you are affected by what happens to them so that if they cut their finger you feel their pain
Care isn’t just a feeling though – care is something practical that we do to help make those we love more comfortable

Children need love – they need people in their lives who are mindful of them and who care for them in practical ways

When a child is very young they aren’t able to separate themselves from their mother – they have just spent 9 months in the womb and haven’t developed a sense of their own identity yet
This means that they are very sensitive to the way dad treats their mum
If dad is kind to mum and treats her with thoughtfulness and care, then they will feel loved by dad
But if dad mistreats mum then they will feel hurt and not worth much
So the first way for parents to love their children is to love one another

As the child gets older, and is able to differentiate themselves from their mother a bit more, love is given in other ways – mainly through time spent together

I don’t remember many of the toys I was given as a child; but I do remember the quality time my parents spent with me
We want to give our kids as many good memories as we can

Responsibility:

God provides us with security, God loves us and God trusts us with real responsibility

Some years ago now I read Bill Bryson’s book, ‘A short history of everything’ in which Bryson describes the ‘Goldilocks Effect’

The goldilocks effect is a metaphor for how everything is ‘just right’ for sustaining life on earth
The earth is just the right distance from the sun, just the right distance from the moon, just the right size and therefore the right gravity
With just the right amount of oxygen in our atmosphere, just the right amount of salt in our oceans and so on
This planet is held in a wonderfully intricate balance – if any one of thousands of different factors was even a little bit out, planet earth wouldn’t be habitable.
Some people say the Goldilocks Effect is just random luck; but there is no hope (or truth) in thinking like that
The Bible teaches that God took great care in making this world just right for sustaining life
When we think of it like that, we begin to realise there is meaning and purpose to life on earth; our lives are not random, they matter

Not long after I first started at Tawa Baptist I conducted a survey. It was a way of getting to know the congregation

One of the questions at the end of the survey had to do with how we contribute to the well-being of others especially in the wider world
And I remember R answered in a way that no one else did
R said, “I ride my bike to work” and in brackets he wrote ‘pollute-less’
R was doing his bit to keep the balance in our world – he was taking care of the environment
But I think also that R really likes riding his bike
Given R’s love of cycling I had to include a bicycle illustration in the sermon – so please wait for a moment. I’ll be back…

[Go back stage and return with a bicycle]

How long do you think I can keep my balance on this bike? [Wait]

Okay, let’s test my balance – let’s see how long I can stay upright

[Try to balance on my bike while not moving]

That wasn’t very long was it. Why couldn’t I keep my balance for more than a few seconds? [Wait]

That’s right, because I wasn’t moving. To keep my balance, I need forward momentum, I need positive purpose

Returning to Psalm 8. In verse 5 David talks about the dignity God has given humanity, saying…

⁵ Yet you have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honour. ⁶ You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet: ⁷ all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, ⁸ the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.

Verses 5-8 of Psalm 8 come from Genesis chapter 1

There (in the first chapter of Genesis) it tells how God created order out of the chaos and how God made us human beings in His own image

To be crowned with glory and honour is a privilege

To have dominion (or stewardship) over the animals, the birds and the fish, is a responsibility
As God’s vice regents, as His representatives, His deputies, it is our job to help maintain the balance

The position we have in creation is a position of trust

And it’s not a position or a trust that we have earned – it has simply been given to us
God shared his glory & honour with us before we had a chance to do anything at all
This means that we did not become the dominant species on planet earth by natural selection
Our place in the natural order is not the consequence of survival of the fittest. We have dominion over other creatures by divine selection

This means our royal status and authority over creation is subject to God

We don’t have free reign to do whatever we want
We are to use our authority and power in ways that serve God’s own purposes and reflect God’s own practices
God is mindful of us and cares for us, therefore we need to be mindful of the rest of God’s creation and care for it, both human and non-human
We are dependent on God to help us keep the balance – we can’t do it without Him
Trying fulfil our responsibility as human beings, without God, is like trying to ride a bike without forward momentum; God gives us the positive purpose we need to stay upright

So how are we doing with our responsibility?

Not so great. There is a huge disparity between the vision of humanity in this psalm and the reality of human history
Our dominion has become domination
Our stewardship has become slavery
Our rule has become ruin
We have dragged God’s reputation through the mud
We have become the foe and the avenger
And all creation groans as it waits for its salvation

One of the tasks of parenting is to teach our children responsibility

We want our kids to grow up to be responsible adults
As human beings, made in the image of God, we have a responsibility to care for our neighbour, to care for the environment and to care for ourselves

Responsibility is like riding a bike – it requires balance

If our sense of responsibility is too great, then this creates problems:
Like we might feel guilty when we don’t need to
Or we might keep coming to the rescue when others don’t need rescuing
Or we might feel like we are carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders and life loses its joy
Or we find ourselves becoming resentful because we always seem to be the one who does the work while others keep letting us down

On the other hand, if our sense of responsibility is too light or missing altogether, then that creates a different set of problems:

Like we make a mess that others have to clean up
Or we throw away our plastic so sea birds eat it and die horribly
Or we indulge ourselves at the expense of others, causing them trauma and pain

The prodigal son didn’t feel enough responsibility – he was reckless

Whereas his older brother carried too much responsibility and he became resentful
Responsibility is a balancing act and we teach children to manage the balance by living a balanced lifestyle ourselves
By avoiding extremes and excesses
Having a time for doing chores, a time for rest and a time for play
Having a consequence for misbehaviour that is fair and not too heavy handed
By balancing involvement in church with involvement in the community
Having time alone and time to socialise
Being good to others without neglecting our own needs
Being mindful of the products we buy and how we dispose of our waste
I could go on but you get the point: being responsible means keeping a healthy balance and the key to keeping our balance is letting God be the boss of our lives because God is the one who gives us the forward momentum of a positive purpose

Conclusion:

While we have failed in our responsibility, Jesus is our Saviour (He has taken responsibility)

- Jesus is the one who fulfils Psalm 8’s vision of humanity
- Jesus shows us what God originally intended
- In Christ we find security.
- In Christ we experience God’s love
- And in Christ we learn to balance responsibility

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon?

Why do you think this stood out to you?

2. How do you feel when you hear children laughing and playing happily? (What memory does this evoke for you?)

3. What is your experience of the security God gives?

How might we give a sense of security to those close to us (especially children)?

4. Have you looked up at the stars at night and contemplated like David did? What happened within you as a consequence of doing this?

5. Who do you love? (That is, who are you mindful of, who affects you, who do you show care for?)

How might we show love to those around us (especially children)?

6. What does it mean to have dominion over the animals, birds and fish? (What does it mean to live responsibly?)

7. What do we need to keep our balance?

What are some of the symptoms of having an over developed sense of responsibility?
What are some of the symptoms of having an under developed sense of responsibility?
Thinking about these symptoms is there anything you need to do to restore the balance of responsibility?

Tag: balance