2002-10-13 Communion Dedication - Baldwin Christian Church
WITH JUST HIS FINGERS...
Psalm 8:1-9
[ To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of David. ]
1. O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
2. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
Spoken praises and prayers are so very powerful. Even the youngest, newest believer is ordained with this power. God chooses the weak things of this world to confound the mighty things. Notice in this verse that our mouths have to speak first, then God will defeat the enemy.
3. When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
With His fingers, just His fingers, He hung the moon and the stars. NASA uses
the Hubble telescope to consider the heavens. With tremendous expense and effort,
they hung this massive, costly telescope way up in orbit so they could get a better
view of the stars.
Even with their best and brightest minds analyzing every image from this incredibly
expensive piece of equipment, they still can't see the ends of God's creation. And I
have a feeling that, try as they might, they never will (Don't you?). Consider this,
that even the best and brightest of mankind, using the finest and most expensive
equipment, with nothing obstructing the view, they still can't see the end of what
God created with just His fingers!
4. What is man, that thou art mindful of him?
We are so insignificant when measured against the whole of God's creation, and we are so pathetic when measured against His righteousness. What makes us so special, that we might deserve the attention of the One who hung the stars?
(continued) ...and what is the son of man, that thou visitest him?
This son of man, the second Adam, Jesus, He was visited with persecution, with mocking, with beatings, with the agony of the cross, with the burden of all the sin in this world. My sins, your sins, our sins.
Why would the Creator of all that we can see, why would He come down to live with us? To leave heaven, to live in the sewage of sin that is in this world, knowing what would happen to Him here, knowing what He must go through?
5. For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
By the grace of God, Jesus is the captain of our salvation, made perfect through His suffering. For a little while, He was made a little lower than the angels. All those who believe upon Him become jewels in His crown of glory and honour.
6. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands (that's more than fingers); thou hast put all things under his feet: (all things!)
7. All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
8. The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
9. O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!
As of right now, we don't see all things under His feet, but we will. On that day every knee will bow, every tongue will confess; He is Lord.
When we take communion with Christ, we partake in His suffering, but also in His abounding comfort. He shows us how we are to comfort others by the way He comforts us during our suffering. When we take communion with Christ we partake of His obedience to the Father. We partake of His love for the Father, and for all men.
As we prepare to sit at His table, please let us consider the enormity of His creation, the enormity of His sacrifice, the enormity of His love for each and every one of us, and let's examine our hearts.