WEBVTT 00:00:00.300 --> 00:00:08.359 This was a hard week, and I know if you're like me, you're probably feeling pretty exhausted and discouraged right now. 00:00:09.080 --> 00:00:23.500 For me, among all of the things, all of the challenges, one of the hardest things personally to watch was the moment that President Trump cleared out protesters to make his way to stand in front of St. John's Church and hold up a Bible and have his picture taken. 00:00:23.500 --> 00:00:36.640 And to me, this looked like a decision to blatantly use the Bible as a prop for a political, and I was scandalized by that. 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:41.980 And I was deeply frustrated with Christian leaders who praised him for that. 00:00:41.979 --> 00:00:55.699 And yet, you know, as Christians, when we look at something like that, and as I've prayed about that this week, I've remembered Jesus' words of not focusing so much on the speck in someone else's eye that we neglect the plank in our own. 00:00:55.799 --> 00:00:59.679 And as I've thought and prayed more about that, I've come to a pretty difficult realization. 00:00:59.679 --> 00:01:06.739 And that is one of the biggest problems in our church right now. 00:01:07.239 --> 00:01:15.840 And I think, therefore, one of the biggest problems in our society right now is that far too many Christians take the exact same approach to the Bible. 00:01:16.200 --> 00:01:23.700 We want to hold the Bible up as a kind of symbol, as something that we value, as something even that we defend. 00:01:23.700 --> 00:01:34.240 And yet, at the very same time, some of us are simply ignorant of what it actually says, and others willfully choose to ignore the parts that they don't like. 00:01:35.060 --> 00:01:45.760 And so, like it or not, as I prayed about it this week, I realized that that photograph of President Trump holding up the Bible in front of that church is in some ways an icon of American Christianity. 00:01:45.760 --> 00:02:00.140 And, you know, I was talking to a friend of mine who's a black pastor here in D.C., and I was just offering my support and encouragement and asking him what we as a church could do to support him and his church during these incredibly difficult times. 00:02:00.600 --> 00:02:03.640 And his response really caught me off guard. 00:02:03.760 --> 00:02:12.700 He said, tell your people this, whatever else you do, dig into the Word of God as deeply and as faithfully as you can. 00:02:12.699 --> 00:02:18.699 And he said, the only reason we've ever made any progress is because of God's Word. 00:02:18.979 --> 00:02:26.599 And the only hope we have of seeing any real change or making any more progress in the future will be because of God's Word. 00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:30.239 He said, so dig into the Word as deeply and faithfully as you can. 00:02:30.739 --> 00:02:41.039 And I would never claim to be the arbiter of scriptural truth or the sole accurate interpretator, giving the sole accurate interpretation of the Bible. 00:02:41.039 --> 00:02:45.500 But what I would say is that we as a community need to make a commitment to one another. 00:02:46.139 --> 00:03:06.139 And that is that no matter how things play out over the next few weeks, months, years, that rather than our politics, rather than the 24-hour news cycle, rather than social media, that it would be God's Word that most shapes how we respond, how we conduct ourselves, how we speak, how we act. 00:03:06.139 --> 00:03:13.359 And so with that in mind, we're going to spend the next two months as a church community looking at the Psalms. 00:03:13.360 --> 00:03:25.920 Because if you've ever spent any time in the Psalms, you know this, that there is nothing that can happen, no experience that we might face to which the Psalms do not speak. 00:03:26.560 --> 00:03:35.680 The Psalms are the prayer book of the Bible, Jesus' prayer book, and they cover the entire spectrum of human experience and emotion. 00:03:35.680 --> 00:03:40.580 And so we're going to allow the Psalms to guide us through these incredibly tumultuous waters. 00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:51.700 And we're going to begin this morning by looking together at Psalm 8, which I hope you will agree, as we look at it more closely, is highly relevant to a lot of the things that are on our minds and hearts right now. 00:03:51.879 --> 00:03:59.020 So first we're going to look at what this Psalm is saying, and then we're going to look a little bit at what it means for us in this particular cultural moment. 00:03:59.420 --> 00:03:59.860 Let's pray. 00:03:59.860 --> 00:04:09.240 Lord, we thank you for your word, and in particular, we thank you for using someone like David to write such a beautiful Psalm. 00:04:09.740 --> 00:04:22.879 And we pray that we would not just appreciate this for its literary beauty, but that you would use it surgically in us to open up our hearts, to reveal to us our need for you. 00:04:22.879 --> 00:04:29.199 And then we pray that you would use this Psalm to bring us face to face with the living word, Jesus Christ. 00:04:29.199 --> 00:04:31.240 And it's in his name that we pray. 00:04:32.019 --> 00:04:32.339 Amen. 00:04:33.680 --> 00:04:38.579 So first of all, what does Psalm 8 actually say when we look at it? 00:04:38.800 --> 00:04:46.480 And one of the first things you notice if you read through it is that this Psalm begins and ends in exactly the same way, with exactly the same words. 00:04:46.919 --> 00:04:47.279 It says, 00:04:47.279 --> 00:04:54.680 It begins and ends in praise. 00:04:54.839 --> 00:04:58.279 And really, the entire Psalm is a Psalm of praise to God. 00:04:58.279 --> 00:05:08.959 And this right here would be worth its own sermon, because what it shows us is that all of life, all of existence, all of the universe begins and ends with the praise of God. 00:05:09.039 --> 00:05:11.739 That's the entire reason that all of this is here. 00:05:11.819 --> 00:05:12.659 It's for God's glory. 00:05:13.599 --> 00:05:17.299 And yet, in the heart of the Psalm, David poses a question. 00:05:17.479 --> 00:05:19.399 And this is a deep philosophical question. 00:05:19.399 --> 00:05:25.939 In fact, I think it's maybe the most foundational question for human identity in society we can possibly ask. 00:05:26.019 --> 00:05:31.639 It shapes everything about how we organize ourselves as a society, how we think about politics, economics. 00:05:32.159 --> 00:05:33.279 It shapes everything. 00:05:34.120 --> 00:05:34.379 He says, 00:05:34.379 --> 00:05:44.819 That's the question. 00:05:44.819 --> 00:05:55.360 Now, I know that many of you, like us, have been trying to homeschool your kids. 00:05:55.500 --> 00:05:58.000 And I've got a suggestion for a homeschooling activity. 00:05:58.620 --> 00:06:02.539 Turns out, most models of the solar system are not built to scale. 00:06:02.659 --> 00:06:06.319 So if you want an activity to do with your kids, and kids, if you're listening, listen up. 00:06:06.560 --> 00:06:09.860 You can build a model of the solar system to scale. 00:06:09.860 --> 00:06:13.500 It's going to be a little different than some of the other models that you may have seen before. 00:06:13.660 --> 00:06:18.800 The first thing I want you to do, with your parents' permission, is I want you to go to the freezer and get a bag of frozen peas. 00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:19.759 I know it's in there. 00:06:20.060 --> 00:06:21.040 And get out a pea. 00:06:21.460 --> 00:06:22.300 That's going to be Earth. 00:06:22.639 --> 00:06:26.300 And I want you to take Earth over, and I want you to put Earth on your kitchen table. 00:06:26.460 --> 00:06:28.580 Just somewhere on your kitchen table, or it won't be disturbed. 00:06:28.780 --> 00:06:29.400 That's Earth. 00:06:29.800 --> 00:06:33.020 Now we need a point of reference, and so we're going to put Jupiter down. 00:06:33.100 --> 00:06:37.360 And so I want you to go get another pea, bring it back, and I want you to start at your kitchen table. 00:06:37.360 --> 00:06:42.480 And then I want you to just start walking, just in any direction, and you're going to need to walk about 1,000 feet. 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:46.160 And once you've walked 1,000 feet, put the pea down on the ground. 00:06:46.400 --> 00:06:53.900 Now you know the scale distance between Earth, which is a little green pea, and Jupiter, about 1,000 feet away. 00:06:54.480 --> 00:06:56.900 Now we want to go to the kind of edge of our solar system. 00:06:56.900 --> 00:07:00.160 So I want you to go get another pea, and this is going to represent Pluto. 00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:06.800 And I want you to start again at your kitchen table, but this time you're going to have to walk just in any given direction about 1.5 miles. 00:07:06.800 --> 00:07:12.180 So just walk 1.5 miles down the road, down the sidewalk, with your parents' permission, and set the pea down there. 00:07:12.460 --> 00:07:13.460 And that's going to be Pluto. 00:07:13.600 --> 00:07:16.120 And that's really kind of the size of our solar system. 00:07:16.420 --> 00:07:21.840 And then you may be wondering, how close to scale would the next closest star be? 00:07:21.960 --> 00:07:23.300 So let's go get another pea. 00:07:23.680 --> 00:07:25.060 That's going to represent that star. 00:07:25.300 --> 00:07:27.660 I want you to start at your kitchen table and just pick a direction. 00:07:27.980 --> 00:07:29.879 I want you to walk about 10,000 miles. 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:32.819 It doesn't have to be exact, but roughly 10,000 miles. 00:07:32.819 --> 00:07:34.459 And then set the pea down there. 00:07:34.599 --> 00:07:41.620 That's how far it is from Earth to the next closest star, if we want to keep all this to scale. 00:07:42.139 --> 00:07:53.120 And if you think about the size of our solar system that way, and if you think about the size of the distance between our solar system and the next closest solar system, 00:07:53.120 --> 00:08:02.040 and then you take into consideration the fact that the estimates tell us that there are roughly 200 billion stars in our galaxy alone. 00:08:02.740 --> 00:08:05.319 200 billion stars in our galaxy alone. 00:08:05.319 --> 00:08:13.360 And then if you take into consideration the fact that there are somewhere between 200 billion and 2 trillion galaxies in the observable universe. 00:08:14.279 --> 00:08:19.319 And then you take into consideration that we're only able to observe a part of the universe. 00:08:19.519 --> 00:08:23.659 And that the actual universe is much bigger and getting bigger all the time. 00:08:24.459 --> 00:08:30.319 Then you can begin to appreciate the vastness of the universe that we live in. 00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:39.580 And so David's question is all the more relevant to us because we have a much better understanding than David did of what the universe actually is. 00:08:39.659 --> 00:08:44.019 When we look at the sun and the moon and the stars, what are we actually contemplating? 00:08:44.120 --> 00:08:51.100 Well, it's something of such infinite, extraordinary vastness that no human mind can comprehend it. 00:08:51.159 --> 00:08:52.899 And so David's question is a good one. 00:08:52.899 --> 00:08:57.279 When we think about all of this, when we take all of this into consideration, 00:08:57.959 --> 00:09:02.679 how in the world could God care about human beings? 00:09:03.419 --> 00:09:09.000 How in the world could we have any significance in a world like that? 00:09:09.519 --> 00:09:12.679 And the answer comes in verses 5 through 8. 00:09:12.679 --> 00:09:31.179 Now, if you know Scripture, you know that these words point us directly back to the very first chapter in the Bible, 00:09:31.659 --> 00:09:37.099 Genesis chapter 1, in particular verse 26 and following, 00:09:37.099 --> 00:09:41.899 where it says that God has created human beings in His image. 00:09:42.679 --> 00:09:44.639 In His image. 00:09:45.500 --> 00:09:54.419 Now, in the ancient world, there were a number of cultures and societies that believed in the idea that God's image bearer could be on earth. 00:09:54.539 --> 00:09:59.679 And in every case, that would refer to the king or the emperor. 00:09:59.819 --> 00:10:03.199 So you had a king or an emperor, and in many cultures in the ancient world, 00:10:03.199 --> 00:10:10.399 they believed that their king, their supreme ruler, was the image, the representation of their God on earth. 00:10:10.399 --> 00:10:20.039 But no one anywhere, no one believed what we see in Genesis 1 reflected in Psalm 8. 00:10:20.259 --> 00:10:22.199 Because this is telling us something very different. 00:10:22.759 --> 00:10:26.220 It's telling us that every single human being, 00:10:26.220 --> 00:10:32.120 from the poorest peasant to the most exalted emperor, 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:38.639 every single human being bears the image and the likeness of the God who made them. 00:10:39.019 --> 00:10:45.120 Every single human being is crowned with the glory of the God who made them. 00:10:45.340 --> 00:10:47.139 They bear the image of God on earth. 00:10:47.139 --> 00:10:51.500 In other words, when God looks out at everything He's made, 00:10:51.980 --> 00:11:00.960 when God looks at the oceans and the land teeming with life of every kind and variety that He's made, 00:11:01.039 --> 00:11:04.220 when God looks at the sunsets, when God looks at the Alps, 00:11:04.720 --> 00:11:09.740 when God looks at the solar system and the galaxies whirring through space, 00:11:09.740 --> 00:11:13.000 when God takes all of this into account and looks at everything that He's made, 00:11:13.000 --> 00:11:21.600 His favorite thing, His masterpiece is you and me. 00:11:23.100 --> 00:11:24.340 You're His masterpiece. 00:11:25.360 --> 00:11:28.860 You're God's favorite thing that He has made. 00:11:29.100 --> 00:11:34.960 Because you're the only thing in existence that uniquely bears His image 00:11:34.960 --> 00:11:37.340 and bears His glory in the world. 00:11:37.639 --> 00:11:40.580 And that's what makes human beings unique. 00:11:40.580 --> 00:11:43.340 It says that human beings are God's masterpiece. 00:11:45.139 --> 00:11:47.020 So this is what Psalm 8 is saying. 00:11:47.180 --> 00:11:49.360 Now, what does that mean? 00:11:49.639 --> 00:11:54.120 And we could go on and on and on about the implications of this, 00:11:54.320 --> 00:11:56.900 but I just want to draw our attention to three. 00:11:58.520 --> 00:12:01.780 First, this radically shapes the way we see ourselves. 00:12:02.280 --> 00:12:04.920 It radically shapes how we see ourselves. 00:12:05.480 --> 00:12:08.360 Because, you know, the way we see ourselves, whether we like it or not, 00:12:08.360 --> 00:12:11.279 has a lot to do with how other people treat us. 00:12:11.539 --> 00:12:14.820 If people tend to treat us well in life, we tend to feel good about ourselves. 00:12:14.960 --> 00:12:18.139 If people don't, we tend to have negative self-perceptions. 00:12:18.700 --> 00:12:20.800 And, you know, growing up for me, it was interesting. 00:12:21.259 --> 00:12:24.100 In elementary school, I had a pretty good go of it. 00:12:24.259 --> 00:12:28.379 I had some friends and felt decently liked by people and my teachers. 00:12:28.379 --> 00:12:33.379 And so my sense of myself was that I was a pretty worthwhile person. 00:12:34.139 --> 00:12:36.059 But everything changed in middle school. 00:12:36.179 --> 00:12:38.600 My brother and I had to go to a different middle school. 00:12:39.039 --> 00:12:43.580 And it was a school where a lot of other kids had known each other for years. 00:12:43.759 --> 00:12:46.179 And we came in and didn't know anybody. 00:12:46.679 --> 00:12:52.600 And then to make matters worse, I developed this condition, this eczema on my hands. 00:12:52.659 --> 00:12:54.600 And so they would be really cracked and dry. 00:12:54.600 --> 00:12:56.300 And it looked pretty bad. 00:12:56.360 --> 00:12:58.019 My hands looked all flaky. 00:12:58.340 --> 00:13:04.200 And so one of the kids in sixth grade immediately started a rumor that this was a communicable disease, 00:13:04.519 --> 00:13:08.360 that if anybody touched me, they would get it as well. 00:13:08.740 --> 00:13:10.200 And so that rumor stuck. 00:13:10.879 --> 00:13:14.340 And so for the next three years, I was more or less an outcast. 00:13:14.500 --> 00:13:15.980 I never really fit in. 00:13:17.060 --> 00:13:19.639 I was left out. 00:13:19.800 --> 00:13:21.220 I wasn't invited to anything. 00:13:21.220 --> 00:13:28.480 And there was this running joke that I had this communicable disease and that nobody should touch me or play sports with me or anything like that. 00:13:29.000 --> 00:13:32.980 And it was amazing to see how my self-image began to change. 00:13:33.639 --> 00:13:37.860 It was amazing to see how my confidence just sort of like evaporated. 00:13:37.860 --> 00:13:50.340 And, you know, if you've experienced this, if you've ever had someone, whether it's kids at school or a parent or a teacher or maybe a romantic partner, 00:13:50.560 --> 00:13:58.100 if you've ever had anyone treat you like you have no worth, if they do it for long enough, you start to believe them. 00:13:59.000 --> 00:14:01.740 And it's really hard to find evidence to the contrary. 00:14:01.740 --> 00:14:06.980 And, you know, the self-esteem movement comes along. 00:14:07.080 --> 00:14:08.940 I grew up during the self-esteem movement. 00:14:09.440 --> 00:14:11.560 And the self-esteem movement says, well, you know what? 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:14.340 You're special and you're unique and you're awesome. 00:14:14.539 --> 00:14:16.519 And you just need to love yourself more. 00:14:16.639 --> 00:14:17.740 You just need to love yourself. 00:14:17.919 --> 00:14:20.639 And that's where your sense of worth is going to come from. 00:14:20.759 --> 00:14:24.440 And, you know, I just got to say, that has never worked for me. 00:14:25.180 --> 00:14:26.480 It just never worked. 00:14:26.480 --> 00:14:30.500 You know, you say, why should I love myself? 00:14:31.740 --> 00:14:32.139 Why? 00:14:33.039 --> 00:14:40.180 And what's so interesting is that in a secularized society, there is really no answer to that question. 00:14:41.120 --> 00:14:47.200 In a secularized society, there is really no objective reason to love yourself at all. 00:14:47.200 --> 00:14:58.180 If we're just all accidents in a meaningless universe, if we just sort of accidentally arrived here and life has no higher purpose or meaning whatsoever, 00:14:58.540 --> 00:15:07.220 and the best we can hope for is to maybe pass some of our DNA along so that some future version of ourself can live out their pointless life, 00:15:08.040 --> 00:15:11.300 what reason is there to care about any of this? 00:15:11.299 --> 00:15:18.359 But I think deep down, deep down, we know in our guts that that is not true. 00:15:18.799 --> 00:15:23.219 I think that most human beings have some deep, innate sense that life does matter, 00:15:23.219 --> 00:15:29.120 that there is a purpose to this, and that there is a reason that we are important or significant, 00:15:29.279 --> 00:15:32.939 even though we are such tiny specks in such a vast universe. 00:15:33.979 --> 00:15:36.699 And Psalm 8 comes along, and Psalm 8 says, 00:15:36.700 --> 00:15:37.700 You're right. 00:15:38.640 --> 00:15:40.040 You do matter. 00:15:40.740 --> 00:15:42.020 You are significant. 00:15:42.540 --> 00:15:44.700 In fact, you're God's masterpiece. 00:15:45.020 --> 00:15:50.460 And because you are God's masterpiece, you have an intrinsic, irrefutable worth. 00:15:52.300 --> 00:15:54.340 It's just who you are. 00:15:55.759 --> 00:15:57.180 And it's irrefutable. 00:15:57.379 --> 00:15:58.560 It can never be taken away. 00:15:59.300 --> 00:16:04.820 So no matter who you are, no matter what you've done, no matter how you're living your life right now, 00:16:04.820 --> 00:16:09.960 even if you completely reject the idea of God out of hand, it doesn't matter. 00:16:10.300 --> 00:16:14.820 You have inherent, irrefutable worth, simply because you're a human being, 00:16:15.700 --> 00:16:20.840 simply because you were made by God to bear His image, and you are His masterpiece. 00:16:22.120 --> 00:16:28.420 So this truth, if it sinks down into your heart, radically shifts how you see yourself. 00:16:28.419 --> 00:16:34.860 This truth also radically transforms how we see other people, 00:16:35.139 --> 00:16:38.379 how we see the people all around us in our lives. 00:16:38.799 --> 00:16:41.379 And to take the most relevant example right now, 00:16:41.679 --> 00:16:46.879 just consider the example of race and how we see people who look different than we do. 00:16:48.059 --> 00:16:52.779 You know, the modern conception of race, as most of us grew up understanding it, 00:16:52.939 --> 00:16:55.240 actually emerged during the Enlightenment. 00:16:55.240 --> 00:16:58.100 It's a fairly recent idea, historically speaking. 00:16:58.539 --> 00:17:03.560 You see, in the Enlightenment, there was a kind of massive paradox in the heart of the Enlightenment. 00:17:03.779 --> 00:17:07.660 Because on the one hand, you had all of these people, all of these cultural elites, 00:17:07.759 --> 00:17:14.140 and all of these thought leaders who are out there promoting ideas of human freedom and individual rights, 00:17:14.200 --> 00:17:18.299 and you have nations being founded and formed with these ideas. 00:17:18.299 --> 00:17:25.240 And yet, at the very same time, many of the people who were espousing those ideas owned slaves. 00:17:25.659 --> 00:17:31.599 And they supported the extermination of native populations in the name of colonization. 00:17:32.059 --> 00:17:34.440 And so there's this paradox at the heart of all of this. 00:17:34.559 --> 00:17:37.159 And the question then arises, well, how do you resolve that paradox? 00:17:38.339 --> 00:17:43.980 Well, a very elegant solution is to develop a hierarchy based on physical appearance. 00:17:43.980 --> 00:17:48.059 Get a little pseudoscience to back that up. 00:17:48.380 --> 00:17:54.360 And then you can use that hierarchy to justify the oppression of certain people groups by other people groups. 00:17:54.440 --> 00:18:00.680 You can even argue, as many people did, that it's in the best interest of those inferior people groups 00:18:00.680 --> 00:18:06.140 to be under the dominance of the more superior people groups. 00:18:06.140 --> 00:18:11.280 And, of course, we now know that that has no scientific basis whatsoever. 00:18:11.680 --> 00:18:14.980 But the problem is those ideas captured imaginations. 00:18:15.660 --> 00:18:22.220 They captured imaginations, and they remain all the way into our present day in very subtle ways. 00:18:23.020 --> 00:18:28.800 And so everyone I know, if you ask them, everyone I know believes that racism is a scourge on society 00:18:28.800 --> 00:18:30.580 and needs to be utterly eradicated. 00:18:30.660 --> 00:18:32.340 I don't know anybody who does that. 00:18:32.340 --> 00:18:34.400 I know there are people out there who might disagree with that, 00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:36.880 but I personally don't know anybody who would disagree with that. 00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:41.800 And yet what we need to understand is these post-Enlightenment ideas are very sticky, 00:18:42.460 --> 00:18:48.060 and they're very subtle, and they remain embedded in our culture, 00:18:48.300 --> 00:18:55.420 and they have influenced numerous policies over the years that continue to dramatically shape lives today. 00:18:56.980 --> 00:19:00.080 And it's true that Christians have been complicit in this. 00:19:00.300 --> 00:19:00.759 Absolutely. 00:19:01.259 --> 00:19:02.060 It's true. 00:19:02.059 --> 00:19:04.759 But again, going back to what we said at the beginning, 00:19:04.960 --> 00:19:09.720 if we actually dig into Scripture, and if we actually understand what it says, 00:19:09.799 --> 00:19:13.539 and if we refuse to ignore the parts that we don't like, 00:19:13.759 --> 00:19:20.200 we realize that Christianity actually has a core theological reason to combat racism on every level. 00:19:21.039 --> 00:19:25.839 In fact, I think more than almost any other philosophy or religion or worldview that I'm familiar with, 00:19:26.099 --> 00:19:29.879 Christianity has a core reason why we should combat racism at every level. 00:19:29.880 --> 00:19:31.740 And Psalm 8 shows us that reason. 00:19:31.980 --> 00:19:33.940 Here's the real problem with racism. 00:19:34.440 --> 00:19:35.840 Racism is heresy. 00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:38.840 It's heresy. 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:42.140 It's a heretical doctrine. 00:19:43.360 --> 00:19:46.540 It's what you might think of as a heretical anthropology. 00:19:46.539 --> 00:19:50.779 It's a false doctrine of what it means to be a human being. 00:19:52.599 --> 00:20:05.159 Human societies have always devised ways to rank order certain people as having more rights or being more significant or more valid than other people groups. 00:20:05.160 --> 00:20:09.500 And it seems when you look at history that we're very good at doing this. 00:20:09.500 --> 00:20:14.700 Skin color is one such way we create these kind of caste systems. 00:20:15.380 --> 00:20:20.380 Pre- or postnatal is another way that we have made these divisions. 00:20:20.759 --> 00:20:22.060 Cognitive ability. 00:20:22.860 --> 00:20:23.460 Wealth. 00:20:24.019 --> 00:20:25.380 Level of education. 00:20:26.279 --> 00:20:26.860 Age. 00:20:27.460 --> 00:20:29.140 Level of attractiveness. 00:20:29.140 --> 00:20:37.460 In all of these ways, sometimes sort of formal and official and other times just sort of an informal cultural set of assumptions, 00:20:37.960 --> 00:20:44.759 we are very good at creating these kind of caste systems of value and significance based on these different factors. 00:20:45.259 --> 00:20:51.080 And what we need to understand is caste systems based on any of these things are a slap in God's face. 00:20:52.500 --> 00:20:54.680 They're a slap in the face to the God who made us. 00:20:54.680 --> 00:20:58.960 Because God looks at every single human individual and says, 00:20:59.299 --> 00:20:59.980 That's my masterpiece. 00:21:01.500 --> 00:21:03.160 She bears my image. 00:21:04.279 --> 00:21:05.880 He's crowned with my glory. 00:21:06.840 --> 00:21:07.940 That's my masterpiece. 00:21:08.299 --> 00:21:09.120 How dare you? 00:21:09.759 --> 00:21:14.799 How dare you create a caste system that diminishes the significance of this human being? 00:21:14.799 --> 00:21:22.819 And I think that this is the single most important idea in all of Western civilization. 00:21:23.839 --> 00:21:27.319 It's the single most important idea in all of Western civilization. 00:21:28.200 --> 00:21:30.859 So this radically shapes how we see ourselves. 00:21:31.019 --> 00:21:33.240 It radically shapes how we see other people. 00:21:33.539 --> 00:21:39.879 A third and final implication that I want to talk about briefly is that this radically transforms the way we see our enemies. 00:21:41.180 --> 00:21:42.139 The way we see our enemies. 00:21:42.140 --> 00:21:52.220 In Stalinist Russia, around 1937 to 1938, there was what was called the Great Purge or the Great Terror. 00:21:52.920 --> 00:22:02.800 And essentially Stalin had come to power and he perceived that he had many people out there who might be his enemies, 00:22:03.000 --> 00:22:07.560 who might oppose him, who might stand, pose some threat to his political power. 00:22:07.559 --> 00:22:12.919 And so they rounded up and they executed roughly 750,000 people. 00:22:13.200 --> 00:22:16.319 And then they imprisoned many more in labor camps. 00:22:16.419 --> 00:22:18.299 And you hear about something like this happening. 00:22:18.440 --> 00:22:20.039 You know, 750,000 people. 00:22:20.119 --> 00:22:21.119 How could that possibly happen? 00:22:21.339 --> 00:22:23.039 How could the public have been okay with that? 00:22:23.679 --> 00:22:27.179 Well, the government created a category. 00:22:28.059 --> 00:22:29.240 Former persons. 00:22:29.240 --> 00:22:31.859 Category of former persons. 00:22:31.859 --> 00:22:38.480 And they applied this category very broadly and very liberally to anyone standing in their way. 00:22:39.220 --> 00:22:47.680 And what you realize if you look at it is that this is a very intentional way to ensure that the empathy of the public wouldn't be a problem. 00:22:47.680 --> 00:22:54.560 Nobody cared when these people were imprisoned or executed because they're not people. 00:22:55.600 --> 00:22:56.860 They're former people. 00:22:58.080 --> 00:22:59.160 They're not like me. 00:22:59.360 --> 00:23:00.120 They're not like you. 00:23:01.039 --> 00:23:02.060 They're not people. 00:23:03.120 --> 00:23:07.720 Now, this is an extreme example, but it's one that we should take note of. 00:23:07.720 --> 00:23:16.079 Because I think that in many ways, the same kind of thinking happens in our society all of the time. 00:23:16.440 --> 00:23:29.880 I think the tendency in all of us is that when we see someone who we perceive to be our enemy, our opponent, somebody who stands against the things that we value, it's very easy to begin seeing them as less than human. 00:23:29.880 --> 00:23:38.660 It's very easy to see them in an increasingly reductionistic way and to see them as increasingly subhuman. 00:23:39.040 --> 00:23:45.260 And we tend to group people together and create mental categories of people. 00:23:45.380 --> 00:23:47.800 And so we say, oh, I know people like you. 00:23:48.200 --> 00:23:49.500 I know your type. 00:23:49.920 --> 00:23:52.140 I know the kind of person that you are. 00:23:52.200 --> 00:23:54.500 And what we're saying is you're not actually an individual. 00:23:54.500 --> 00:24:01.019 You're a manifestation of a category, and I already know everything I need to know about that category. 00:24:01.200 --> 00:24:03.000 And that's essentially dehumanizing. 00:24:03.720 --> 00:24:06.920 And so we start thinking in categories. 00:24:07.119 --> 00:24:11.660 We say, well, all black people or brown people are like this. 00:24:11.940 --> 00:24:14.480 All white people are like this. 00:24:14.599 --> 00:24:17.339 All the protesters are doing this. 00:24:17.720 --> 00:24:20.640 All police officers are like this. 00:24:20.640 --> 00:24:25.259 You've seen all around D.C. the ACAB that's been spray painted on everything. 00:24:25.740 --> 00:24:27.980 All Trump supporters are like this. 00:24:28.080 --> 00:24:29.580 All liberals are like this. 00:24:29.600 --> 00:24:32.360 And we begin to think in these generalized categories. 00:24:32.480 --> 00:24:37.000 And what happens is we stop seeing people as individual human beings. 00:24:38.020 --> 00:24:40.720 And we start seeing them as categories. 00:24:41.400 --> 00:24:44.040 And that is how things get so polarized. 00:24:44.039 --> 00:24:57.680 Because we begin to see our opponents, those with whom we disagree, as monsters, as subhuman, as beings who don't have the same rights or the same common sense that we have. 00:24:59.319 --> 00:25:02.839 Again, Psalm 8 says you simply cannot do that. 00:25:03.740 --> 00:25:08.279 Psalm 8 says that each individual is irreducibly complex. 00:25:08.480 --> 00:25:13.819 And each individual is unimaginably, unfathomably valuable. 00:25:14.039 --> 00:25:17.759 And each individual bears the image of God in the world. 00:25:18.099 --> 00:25:19.839 Is crowned with God's glory. 00:25:20.659 --> 00:25:27.099 And so what this means is that we have to resist the urge to dehumanize and categorize people. 00:25:27.319 --> 00:25:29.319 No matter how much we disagree with them. 00:25:29.720 --> 00:25:32.139 No matter how much we don't like what they stand for. 00:25:32.619 --> 00:25:35.079 We have to be relentlessly curious. 00:25:35.079 --> 00:25:41.839 We have to be relentlessly curious to continue seeing each person as an individual. 00:25:41.839 --> 00:25:45.539 And to give them every opportunity to surprise us. 00:25:46.179 --> 00:25:51.139 You would be amazed at how often, if you have a posture of relentless curiosity, 00:25:51.139 --> 00:25:57.519 you would be amazed at how often people will surprise and delight you by defying your expectations. 00:25:57.519 --> 00:26:03.079 So these are just some of the implications of Psalm 8. 00:26:03.079 --> 00:26:08.240 And how Psalm 8 and this truth at the heart of Psalm 8, that we are God's masterpiece, 00:26:08.619 --> 00:26:13.420 transforms how we think about ourselves, how we think about other people, and how we think about our enemies. 00:26:13.420 --> 00:26:19.240 And this is why the gospel is such good news. 00:26:19.660 --> 00:26:22.220 Because as we talk about the fact that we are God's masterpiece, 00:26:22.400 --> 00:26:28.660 we also know that so much in our lives falls well short of that title. 00:26:29.420 --> 00:26:33.539 And the problem of sin, the problem of our rebellion against God, 00:26:33.600 --> 00:26:38.400 the problem with the fact that we choose to worship other things in place of God, 00:26:38.400 --> 00:26:43.000 things like sex or money or power or influence or any of the other things that we worship, 00:26:43.140 --> 00:26:45.660 the problem with that is that it defaces the masterpiece. 00:26:46.920 --> 00:26:49.920 It blurs the image of God in us. 00:26:49.980 --> 00:26:54.240 And in a way, sin is the most dehumanizing thing of all. 00:26:55.380 --> 00:27:01.600 And there are four times that Psalm 8 is quoted in the New Testament. 00:27:01.599 --> 00:27:08.399 One is by Jesus himself, and the other three show up in Hebrews 2, 1 Corinthians 15, and Ephesians 1. 00:27:08.519 --> 00:27:12.919 And in those three places in the New Testament, every single time, 00:27:12.980 --> 00:27:18.379 in Hebrews, 1 Corinthians, and in Ephesians, every time it's quoted, it's not referring to us. 00:27:19.719 --> 00:27:21.500 It's referring to Jesus Christ. 00:27:22.599 --> 00:27:28.919 It's referring to the fact that Jesus Christ shows us what a true human being looks like. 00:27:28.920 --> 00:27:33.220 Jesus Christ is the ultimate human being. 00:27:33.340 --> 00:27:36.100 He shows us everything a human being should be, 00:27:36.220 --> 00:27:38.580 what a true image of God looks like in the world, 00:27:38.779 --> 00:27:41.640 how a true image of God loves and cares for people. 00:27:42.620 --> 00:27:48.940 And what we realize is that if we want to know how fully human we are, 00:27:49.039 --> 00:27:51.420 we have to compare ourselves to Jesus Christ. 00:27:53.800 --> 00:27:55.560 But because we're God's masterpiece, 00:27:56.180 --> 00:27:58.240 and because God loves us so much, 00:27:58.240 --> 00:28:02.519 Jesus was willing to give His life to save and restore our humanity. 00:28:02.920 --> 00:28:05.120 He was willing to become in every way like us, 00:28:05.240 --> 00:28:08.420 so that we might become in every way like Him. 00:28:08.980 --> 00:28:10.660 That's the truth and the hope of the gospel. 00:28:12.799 --> 00:28:17.559 There's a beautiful sermon that Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached on Psalm 8, 00:28:17.620 --> 00:28:19.640 in which he says this, and I'll end with these words. 00:28:19.640 --> 00:28:24.759 Of all the silly, sentimental teachings which have ever characterized any generation, 00:28:25.200 --> 00:28:27.120 the denial of human sin is one of the worst. 00:28:27.720 --> 00:28:30.700 Yet man is not made to dwell in the valleys of sin and evil. 00:28:31.000 --> 00:28:33.220 Man is made for that which is high and noble. 00:28:33.900 --> 00:28:38.400 When I see how we fight vicious wars and destroy human life on bloody battlefields, 00:28:38.400 --> 00:28:41.300 I find myself saying, man is not made for that. 00:28:41.680 --> 00:28:44.480 When I see how we live our lives in selfishness and hate, 00:28:44.480 --> 00:28:46.860 again I say, man is not made for that. 00:28:47.180 --> 00:28:51.059 When I see how often we throw away the precious lives that God has given us, 00:28:51.319 --> 00:28:54.180 again I find myself saying, man is not made for that. 00:28:54.720 --> 00:28:56.759 My friends, man is made for the stars, 00:28:57.160 --> 00:28:58.319 created for eternity, 00:28:58.839 --> 00:28:59.819 born for the everlasting. 00:29:00.240 --> 00:29:02.259 Man is a child of the Almighty God, 00:29:02.579 --> 00:29:04.900 born for His everlasting fellowship. 00:29:04.900 --> 00:29:06.900 Amen.