August 16-17, 1997 Sermon

August 16- 17, 1997

Frank Thomas

Psalm 8
Psalm 8:1-9
1: To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of David. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is thy name in all the earth! Thou whose glory above the heavens is chanted
2: by the mouth of babes and infants, thou hast founded a bulwark because of thy foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.
3: When I look at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast established;
4: what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou dost care for him?
5: Yet thou hast made him little less than God, and dost crown him with glory and honor.
6: Thou hast given him dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet,
7: all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,
8: the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the sea.
9: O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is thy name in all the earth!

Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. From the lips of children and infants, you have initiated praise that drowns out enemy talk and silences atheistic babble. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have mounted in their settings, I wonder why you bother with us, why take a second look our way? You have put us in charge of your hand-crafted world and repeated to us your Genesis charge to rule over flocks and herds, beasts and birds, and whales singing in the oceans deep. God, brilliant Lord, your name echoes around the world.
Let’s pray together. Dear God, awesome God, we are surrounded by miracles that shout to us of your majesty, your deity, your godness. We enjoy an ongoing display of your power that stretches us far beyond our own understanding. Yet in our effort to grasp it all, we often attempt to define you in our own limited terms. We replace the remarkable with the regular and settle for the expected rather than trust for the unbelievable. We draw lines around what we think you can and cannot do. We view you through the lens of our own distorted perspective and then assume that we have you all figured out. Forgive us, Lord. Forgive us for underestimating your presence in every day situations. Forgive us for blaming you for what we just don’t understand. Expand our minds and challenge us today to remember that you are God. You represent a galaxy of divine creativity, yet for the one purpose of declaring that you are indeed here among us. Not just to be admired, but to be known through your son Jesus. Help us to rediscover you, to rediscover the relationship for which we were created. We all need you, Lord. Amen.

Frank Thomas
There is something about the song the band just played. The words of that song are awesome. I can’t explain why God cares, it’s like the song says, it’s just God.
Please bow with me in a word of prayer, I’d like us to focus our minds, our hearts and our spirits for a brief time around the theme today. Let’s get God in us, through us and around us. We want God to come up from the floor, down through the ceiling and in through the walls. We want God. We want to be so hungry for God that he would be pleased to show up. Bow with me please in a word of prayer.
Lord, we do thank you for the privilege and the graces and the marvelous opportunity to be found once again in the house of prayer and praise. Because we have found that the things of this world are not sufficient to meet our needs. We have found that all the things that we ourselves have done are but sand castles before the storms and the gales of life. We come to feed from your most holy word. We come to drink from an ever-living fountain. We come to feed at a table with the bread of life. We come because we are hungry and thirsty. We come because we’re lonely, we come because we have questions for which there have not been answers. We come because we’ve tried everybody and everything else and we stand open before your word. We stand before you as empty pitchers before the full fountain of your truth and your grace. We ask that you would drop us deep into the well of your wisdom. We ask most of all that we would not just be hearers of the word, but that we would be doers of the things that you say to us. You can have the glory. What we need is a blessing. In Jesus name, Amen.

Hubble And The Psalms
Psalm 8:1-3
1: To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of David. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is thy name in all the earth! Thou whose glory above the heavens is chanted
2: by the mouth of babes and infants, thou hast founded a bulwark because of thy foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.
3: When I look at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast established;

Please turn your bible to the book of Psalms the eighth chapter. The first verse says, Oh, Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Verse three, when I consider your heavens the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have set in place, what are we that thou are mindful of us? What are we that you care for us? I want to preach something tonight entitled "Discoveries in Deep Space Infinity." There has been so much hoopla this year about the landrover being on Mars. Last year’s great sensation was pictures beamed back to earth by the Hubble deep space telescope. I don’t know if you remember, but the Hubble beamed back to earth phenomenal pictures from deep space that were quite astonishing to many people. The pictures from the Hubble deep space telescope were so astounding that Peter Kindle wrote an article for the Chicago Tribune entitled "Discoveries in Deep Space Infinity, Ten Billion Years of History Tumble into the Lens of the Hubble Telescope." This is very significant because 75 years ago scientists were not sure that there was more than one galaxy. Some believed that everything stopped at the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy which is where our solar system starts. The big question was, is our universe the only one or is it one of millions? After a tremendous amount of debate, an astronomer from the University of Chicago, Edwin Powell Hubble, proved that there were things outside of our galaxy. Based on the pictures from the telescope named after Hubble, we have expanded our estimates five fold from ten billion galaxies to fifty billion galaxies. Just think about that for a moment. Seventy-five years ago we were wondering if we were the only galaxy and Edwin Powell Hubble proved that we were not. The telescope beamed back pictures demonstrating that there are about fifty billion galaxies out there. How do you comprehend fifty billion galaxies? The way I could understand it was to think of Bill Gates, the Microsoft genius. Bill Gates, the estimates say, has somewhere around forty billion dollars. It helps me understand and comprehend this better to think that God has a galaxy for every dollar that Bill Gates has. Based on pictures from the deep space telescope, astronomers added two planets to the cosmos. The third and fourth outside our solar system and one of the new planets may have water on it. This prompted one of the scientist to speculate that it could be like a nice warm toasty bath.
In response to all of these pictures and revelations, Peter Kindle wrote an article that appeared in the Chicago Tribune stating, "by showing that the universe is bigger and more diverse than we ever thought, these discoveries, in effect, show that we are even less significant than we ever thought." Just think that before there were pictures from the Hubble, 25 hundred years ago the Psalmist looked up at the magnificent beauty of a starlit night and said, "When I consider the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what are mortals that you are mindful of them? What are human beings that you care for them? Oh, Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. Oh, Lord, our Lord, how awesome is your name in all the earth! The Psalmist with the naked eye looked up at the stars and said, "When I consider your heavens, the warmth of your fingers, the stars thou hast made, we are even less significant than what we first thought."
That’s what I want to talk about tonight. How less significant we are than what we have ever thought. How little we are. How minute we are. How infinitesimal we are. How microscopic we are. How miniature, how tiny, how teeny weeny we are. When we get a sense of our size and our scope and our extent, we must exclaim: Oh, Lord, our Lord, how majestic! We must go with the band and say, we think about that you would care for us, we think about that you would be mindful, we think about that you would die for us, we must say, it’s just God. The Psalmist in the text today teaches lessons that I want to make sure that you get tonight. The three primary lessons are as follows:

I. Consider The Heavens
Psalm 8:3
3: When I look at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast established;

It is our duty to consider the heavens. The Psalmist says, when I consider the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place - when I consider, it is my duty to consider the heavens.
I am trying very hard to give my son and my daughter the gift of international travel before they leave our household. I am trying very hard to get my son to Africa before he graduates. I want to show him that there is a vast and awesome world out there and that he does not have to be limited in his hopes and dreams. The world is larger than the south suburb of Chicago in which he lives. The world is larger than the scope of his two friends. The world is larger than his high school, larger even than the United States. The world is larger. I want him to know that there is a big world out there and travel broadens ones' horizons. It is his duty to consider the world. It is his duty to be a citizen of the world. It is his duty to not be limited by the color of his skin or by his perspective of one small segment of a nation, but to be a citizen of the whole world. It is his duty to understand other cultures and other people. It is his duty to expand his horizons. Many people go through their life being who they always were. Believing what they always believed. Thinking what they always thought. Keeping the same friends that they always kept. Going to the same places that they’ve always gone. Many people have never traveled, have never lived close to someone of another race, nation, culture, religion or sexual persuasion. Many people have never gone beyond their little group, their little tribe, their little kinfolk, their little denomination or their little church. Many people lead an uncritical life. Oh, but in my life I want to grow. I want to stretch. I want to change. I want to extend. I want to think new thoughts. I want to see new places. I want to think in ways that I never thought before. I want to see new revelations. I want to hear new insights. I want to gather new sounds. It is our duty to consider the world. It is our duty to consider the heavens. It is our duty to not just be citizens of one little small town or one little small neighborhood or to be members of one little small church with one little small denomination. It is our duty to consider the world. It is our duty to consider the heavens.

II. We Become Small
When we consider the heavens, we become small. The Hubble points out how incomprehensible the universe is. Fifty billion galaxies! I live in a place called Olympia Fields, IL. Olympia Fields, IL is a very small place in contrast to Chicago. Chicago is a very small place in contrast to the state of Illinois. Illinois is a very small place in contrast to the entire United States. The United States is a very small place in contrast to the world. Our world is a very small place in contrast to the universe in which we live. Our universe is a very small place in contrast to the galaxy that is out there. Our galaxy is a very small place in contrast to fifty billion galaxies. And fifty billion galaxies is very small in contrast to God. When I consider your heavens and the work of your fingers I think to myself, I remember some Christmases ago when I received some playdough. You make stuff, you smash it down and then you make some more stuff. Fifty billion galaxies is God’s play dough. He takes a can off of a shelf, rolls it out, smashes it up, throws it out there and then fifty billion galaxies are in existence. In contrast to God, fifty billion galaxies is just a work of God’s fingers. Just a little something that God plays around with. Just play dough.
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the stars which thou hast made, what is man that thou art mindful of us, that thou does care for us? If fifty billion galaxies is very tiny to God, then come all the way back and make the comparison between God and human beings. What is man that thou art mindful? What are our degrees that thou art mindful of them? What are our cars and our houses and the things that we place stock in? What are our cruises and our vacations? What is all that stuff? What are the things by which we validate ourselves? What are our looks? What are our bank accounts and our stock options? What are these things that we place stock in, in comparison to fifty billion galaxies that are tiny, that are play dough on God’s shelf? What are we in comparison to God?

III. God Is Mindful Of Us
We are infinitesimal, but God is mindful of us. We are but a speck on the sand of the shores of time, but God is mindful of us. Some of us are impressed with the power of God. Impressed that God could make and set this whole universe in motion with play dough. Some of us are impressed with the omniscience of God, the fact that God knows everything. God was not surprised with sin. The bible said that the lamb of God was slain before the foundation of the world. This means that God had a plan for salvation before we sinned. That is not the most impressive thing for me. The most impressive thing for me is the love of God. You can have knowledge and you can have power but that won’t get you to the neighborhood. There are some folks that have a lot of knowledge and a lot of power who will drive through the hood with their tinted windows in their limousines. Nobody can look in. They can look out if they choose to, but their knowledge and their power do nobody in the hood any good, but the bible says that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth should not perish, but have everlasting life. This means that God shows up in your neighborhood. It’s God’s love that puts God at your address.

John 1:14
14: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.

Eugene Peterson has a translation of the message that I love. John 1:14, And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth. Gene Peterson says, he translates this message as: and word was made flesh and moved into the neighborhood.
I’m very sensitive about the fact that so many times when I watch the news, the crime scenes being reported are us. I’m sensitive about that because if you watch that stuff you would think that’s all we do. I began to think about this at a deeper level and I’ve decided to no longer be embarrassed because the fall occurred in paradise. This means that evil is faceless. The beauty of the message of God is that the word was made flesh in every neighborhood not just with pimps and prostitutes, but also with CEO’s in the corporate board rooms.
Scientists are fascinated with the Hubble pictures because not only are the pictures of things far away, but of things long ago. The photos are of events that occurred billions of years ago. Since the 19^th century astronomers have had a fair grasp of the speed of light. Did you know that it takes light from the sun nine minutes to reach the earth? When you go outside and look up at the sun, the picture that you see is nine minutes old. The brightest star we can see is the star Serius, which is nine light years away. When you see Serius, what you see is Serius as it existed nine years ago. This means that the further away our telescopes look into the void, the older the pictures we see. Scientist estimate that the Hubble photos are of objects ten billion light years ago. Meaning that an event happened and light traveled ten billion years to hit your retina. One of the things that they think they saw was the birth of a star ten billion light years ago. Could this be like God. We know God as the bright and warming star. Could God have sent this revelation of himself nine minutes ago so that by the time we get to understand who God is, God is already that and more. It is an old picture. It’s hard to get an up-to-date revelation of God because there is a fixed gap between us. So how do we get an up-to-date revelation of God? Jesus is the up-to-the-minute and up-to-date revelation of God. If you want an up-to-date revelation of God, who God is and what God does, locate Jesus. When you locate Jesus, God shows up.
I teach a philosophy of religions class and I have a friend who is always asking me why I’m a Christian. I told him #1 -- because Jesus is the only one who has a program for the enemies. A program called love and salvation. Everybody else kills their enemies.
#2 -- I went to the Soviet Union a couple of years ago and we were in front of Lenin’s tomb. The tomb was made of beautiful red and black marble with soldiers standing there. I said, you know, the God I serve didn’t need to have any marble on his tomb because he wasn’t going to be there long.
#3 -- When you go home, look in your back yard and you will see a green transformer. The transformer's function is to break down power that comes from the electric company through a generator. Which means that if power from the electric company was sent to my house with no transformer to break it down, it would blow up my house. It would blow up my block, blow up the neighborhood and even blow up the town I live in. So the transformer's function is to break down the power to the extent that I can flip a little light switch and turn on only one light. I believe that if the one who made fifty billion galaxies were to show up without filter it would blow up the planet, the galaxy even fifty billion galaxies. He’s that powerful. Because God doesn’t want to blow everything up, he breaks down Godself to the person of Jesus who is the transformer of eternity, who breaks down all the power from God - from the generator.
If you’re in need today, if you’re lonely today, if you’re hurting today, if you’re lost today or if you’re desperate today, all you have to do is hook the electric wires of your heart to the transformer named Jesus. And through the flick of the switch of prayer all that power that made those fifty billion galaxies will flow through the transformer Jesus and down through the electric wires to your heart and all that power will light up just one little bitty life.
Oh, Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!