Psalm 8: 5
A Little Less Than God 

First, is the problem that in Hebrews 2: 6-7 Paul (I am guilty of being a rare subscriber to the Pauline authorship of Hebrews), messianic prophecy. It is verse 6b that he quotes as if it were a prophecy of Messiah. He says that in the age to come all things will be subjected to him. But here it looks like it is a description of human beings or, perhaps, the Lord's people. I would just say it is a kind of secondary messianic prophecy that applies to all mankind in a general sort of way, and may be applied to the Lord's people and can be applied to Messiah as the Second Adam, the head of the redeemed race. Therefore according to my interpretation, the Hebrews passage wouldn't be so much a messianic prophecy as a messianic application of the passage by the inspired Apostle Paul.

The second problem is that our passage here in Psalm 8 is a translation of the Hebrew text and says "a little less than God'' in verse 5 whereas the quotation of this verse in the book of Hebrews is a translation of the Greek Septuagint (a Greek version of the O.T. from around 300 B.C.) and it reads "thou didst make him a little lower than the angels." Certainly, as a former Pharisee, Paul knew what the Hebrew text presumably said. Customarily, he used the Septuagint in his missionary work. And here he let the Septuagint alternate reading stand. "Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels."

The solution to this second problem may be that Paul may have quoted the Septuagint and did not wish to engage in correcting the text. Or it just might be that this was the original reading of Psalm 8. Our manuscripts of the Hebrew only go back to the 900's A.D. and the Septuagint was translated from the Hebrew more than a thousand years before that.

But my message this morning is about something else and we will save this scholarly problem for another time. I would be glad to discuss it with you. Let us think right now about the contrast the psalmist makes between God and man.

I. FIRST, NOTICE THE AWE AND WORSHIPFUL ADMIRATION OF THE PSALMIST TOWARD GOD.

1. Verses 1, 3-4, 9. Even in ancient times -- this is said to be written by David, and, so, it would be around 1000 B.C. -- Even in ancient times the sensitive person could learn things about God from the created world. And one of those things was the greatness of God. It amounts to a 3,000 year old version of the cosmological argument -- making deductions about God from his creation.

The person with the unaided eye could see the sun and the moon and a few hundred stars. He would have had no knowledge of the size of them or the composition of them. Now we know that there are many thousands of galaxies of stars and planets and moons and have no informed idea of the outer limit of them, or, so I understand. For the ancients the size of the earth might be like a rock in a huge farm or even a county-sized piece of land. But with our present knowledge. The earth is like a piece of dust or an even smaller particle in comparison to the universe. We modern believers can repeat these words with increased fervency and wonder: "When I see thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and starts, which thou hast established, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou doest care for him?"

While humanists and shrinks and politicians are urging that we should have a bigger view of ourselves, the Christian, following the lead of the psalmist, is profoundly humbled at his smallness in the larger scope of things. And this is a very productive thing to do for the Christian. Think frequently about how small we are. It would be good for the rich and powerful; good for all Americans; good for politicians. But it is especially good for the Christian soul. For it is an antidote to human pride whether it be in the form of scientism, education, political science or even human initiative. "What is man that thou art mindful of him or the son of man that thou doest care for him?''

Often we hear a challenge to be involved in Christian work that says how very badly God needs us and would we please give him a hand in his very desperate situation. Some place in a church bulletin, I believe, I read the piece of doggerel:

"God has no hands but your hands to do his work today; He has no feet but your feet to run in his busy way...'' And, mercifully, I have forgotten the rest, but you get the idea.

The Psalmist would reply to the doggerel and the theology behind it, "What is man that thou art mindful of him?'' How insignificant is this creature apart from God's grace.

But don't stop there when you meditate on the minuscule significance of the best of human effort. When you have a pessimistic, lonely, aching, emptiness as you consider how small we are, go on to the rest of the verse: "that thou art mindful of him; that thou doest care for him!''

1. "Thou art mindful of him; Thou doest care for him!'' And he goes on: "Thou hast made him a little lower than God, and hast crowned him with glory and splendor. Thou hast made him to rule over the works of thy hands; thou hast put everything under his feet: sheep and oxen, all of them, and also the beasts of the field; the fowl of the heavens, and the fishes of the sea, whatever passes through the paths of the seas.''

2. Seemingly, he is referring to what we call the image of God in man, -- something that is in mankind as a whole and not just in the redeemed part of mankind. That image of God covers many things but just one of them is dominion over the creation -- the reason we eat animals and they do not eat us; the reason we make animals serve us but we are not supposed to serve them. But he is, no doubt, thinking primarily of redeemed humanity which is and will be, by God's grace, completed humanity; about whom God is particularly mindful and about whom God cares specifically, in a redemptive way having provided an atonement for them through the life and death of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

3. How wonderful is grace divine! The eternal, infinite, unchangeable God who is infinitely more profound and more great that his creation, is mindful of us and "doest care'' for us. The Third Person, the Holy Spirit, is here in our midst as we meet this morning. He is here representing the Father and the Son, invigorating our worship, responding to our attention, answering our prayers, assuring us of his presence. How wonderful is the profundity of orthodox theology that makes it rationally possible: the triune nature of God; his eternal love for those who would eventually believe; the work of the Holy Spirit; the atonement of our dear Lord Jesus Christ.

Get in the habit of combining the view of God's majesty, his omnipotence, his transcendence together with his presence in the faithful believer. Avoid all that paganism that treats him as if he were a genie or an invisible companion like children sometimes imagine or a friend who tags along with you on long walks in the woods. But also avoid the mysticism of all these evangelicals who are joining the eastern orthodox church where God is mysticized in the haze of candle-smoked temples, reeking with incense. He is majestic, almighty, aloof and at the same time involved with his people so that they may know him and be aware of his presence. This is a paradox and both sides of the paradox are true. He is high and lifted up and he is close to us and cares for us personally. Let your view of him; let your prayers; let your worship reflect this truth.

III. NOW THIS IS VERY RELATED TO THE COMMUNION.

1. We reject the symbolic view of the sacraments that is held by many good evangelical Christians. We reject it as inadequate to explain the importance of the sacraments in the N.T. and in the early church.

But we also reject the magical view that soon replaced it historically as the church was influenced by paganism, the view that the physical elements of bread and wine (and water, in the case of baptism) have magical power to effect spiritual outcomes.

2. These "sacraments," as we call them, are not magical but are attended by God (who is indeed "mindful of us'' and "does care for us.") so that they become the outward signs, symbols, that God gives us to show his mindfulness and care of his beloved children.

And on this first Sunday in October 1997, wonder at the grace of God that this great God of creation would come to a group of 80 people in a small city in Georgia meeting not in a temple but in a house. But it is true! We know by faith that he is here. Not only does he associate with us but he is mindful of us and doth care for us.

Think on this and do not yield to unbelief. Look at the evidence that it is so. On this communion Sunday faithfully see here in the physical elements that are set before us the signs and seals that he does care for us, for he makes covenant with us as one man makes a covenant with another man. How great is the grace of God that it is so!