ADORATION: PSALM 8:1-8
Illustration: In 1977, Jack Hayford, the founding pastor of the Church on the Way
in Van Nuys California, was vacationing with his wife Anna in Britain during
the 25th anniversary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. While there, the
Hayfords saw constant reminders of royalty. That, along with visits to several
castles, caused Hayford to sense what it might be like to be "raised as a
child in such regal settings."
With this in mind, he asked Anna one
day, as they drove through the countryside, to write down these words:
"Majesty, worship His majesty. Unto Jesus be all glory, power, and
praise." Thus "Majesty," one of today’s most glorious praise
songs, was born.
How do we define the word Majesty? “impressive stateliness, dignity, or beauty. Magnificence · pomp · solemnity · grandeur, royal power. Sovereignty · authority · power · dominion. Who could be indeed called, “Your Majesty? Who truly deserves the adoration?
No human kings nor queens fit the criteria but the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords of this known universe. Let us unpack Psalm eight to discover God’s hidden glory in His creation so that we might join the children and infants to give Him praise. May we also join collectively with nature in adoring and declaring the glories of our Great King and God.
I. OUR MAJESTIC GOD
Vs. 1, “O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens. “What do we see in this verse? We see God as our personal God and His majestic name filling the whole earth (reverberating in the world). This Psalm begins and ends with God and his name. Therefore, it is worth noting who this God is and what his name is.
The Jews have a much deeper understanding of who God is. In the Hebrew Bible, ten prominent names are given to who we call “God” in the English language. They are Elohim (God the Creator Gen 2:4-5). Yahweh. (I AM Who I AM Ex 3:14).
Abba (Father/Daddy). While all the names of God are essential in many ways, the name “Abba an Aramaic word for Father” is one of the most notable names of God in understanding how He relates to His people. Abba was a common term that expressed affection and confidence and trust. Jesus used often called God, “Abba” father. Mark 14:36.
El Elyon (God Most High Psalm 47:2) El Roi (The God who sees me. (Genesis 16:13-14). El Shaddai (God of the Mountains/ God Almighty, All sufficient One Ex 6:2,3) Yahweh Yireh (The LORD will provide, Gen 22:14) Yahweh Nissi (The Lord our banner Ex 17:15) Jehovah Rapha. (The Lord who heals Ex 15:6) Yahweh Shalom, The Lord is Peace Judges 6:24
Coming to the New Testament, all these invisible names of God have been personified in one name Yeshua, which was a common alternative form of the name "Yehoshuah" – Joshua. The name corresponds to the Greek spelling Iesous, from which comes the English name, Jesus.
Philippians 2:9-11, “Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” This scripture tells us that Jesus is worthy of our worship and adoration. Our Sunday worship is all about Jesus. We lift Him by studying the scriptures, in our prayers, through our praise and worship, by preaching of His word, through our offerings, and fellowship. We do all these and many more as our offering unto our Lord Jesus Christ.
II. CHILDREN AND INFANTS PRAISE GOD.
Vs. 2. You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength, silencing your enemies and all who oppose you.” “Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you; toddlers shout the songs That drown out enemy talk, and silence atheist babble.” (The Message). What do we see in these verses? We see children and infants have something to teach us grown-ups.
Through their innocent laughter and absolute wonder and amazement of the creation, they are proclaiming praises to God, and a stark warning to all those who oppose God and atheists who foolishly say there is no God. For the past two weeks, I have been at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. It has been an intense but enriching experience.
I have learned more about focusing on my inner soul, and grow in my intimate love for God, for my wife and others. It was not about strategies on how to increase the size of our Church numerically but to help our members to grow spiritually.
This past Sunday, instead of going to another church, we decided to spend our time a little differently and visited Franklin Zoo in Boston. We became like kids; we marveled at God’s amazing creation. We adored and admired God in worship as we looked at the work of his hands: the peacock with regal bearing, the majestic lion. Colorful finches reminded us not to worry about the future. If God could take care of the birds, how much more would he take care of us? The beautiful stripes on the Zebra made us wonder about God’s perfection. Above all, the playful and naughty prairie dogs taught us how we should not take life too seriously but learn to enjoy and have fun from time to time. I could go on and on, but you get the point.
At the end of our time, we have connected with God by just merely being among God’s beautiful creatures. I would encourage you to step out into God’s beautiful world and discover the glory of God, delight in Him in Worship, and you too will come away refreshed.
Children, infants, animals, and the whole creation are glorifying God. How about if we to join them in praising God by singing “All Creatures of God and King.” The words of the hymn were initially written by St. Francis of Assisi in 1225 in the Canticle of the Sun poem, which was based on Psalm 148. William Draper, a rector of a Church of England, paraphrased and set the music between 1899 and 1919. Let’s arise and adore the God of creation in worship.
III WORSHIP IS ADORING GOD
What is worship? Is it singing a few songs of praise and thanksgiving? Is it praying and studying the scriptures? Is it preaching? Is it communion and fellowship? Or Is it all the above and more? The essence of worship we get from this passage is one word: ADORATION.
The definition of “Adoration” is deep love and respect. Other synonyms: love, devotion, care, fondness, warmth, affection, admiration, regard. In worship it is to glorify, praise revere, to exalt, to esteem, pay tribute to and to magnify. The best picture of adoration comes to my mind is the “Adoration of the Magi.” These kings, or the royal astrologers of the orient who came in search of the newborn king of the Jews. They went straight to Herod’s Palace.
They couldn’t find him the royal palace but in the humble abode of Mary and Joseph. In Matthew 2:11, They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” The magi were overawed in the presence of the King of the Universe.
That is the picture of adoration, delighting in the presence of someone who is genuinely impressive. Each time we worship we adore God for all his beautiful creation and His wonderful attributes of who He is and what He can do. Evelyn Underhill notes, “We define worship as the total adoring response of man to the one Eternal God, self-revealed in time.”
IV. WORSHIP AND WORK
Based on Underhill’s definition, if worship is the “total response of man to the Eternal God, self-revealed in time,” how could that be done practically. In Psalm 8, we see the adoring responses of the animals and the mankind happening day and night. How? One of the purest and adorable sights to see is when mothers breastfeed their infants.
When fathers play with their children, and when we hear the laughter of children it is like music to the ears. These are some of the precious moments where humanity can adore God in worship. Unfortunately, in our current busy working society those precious moments have been stolen by duty of our work. The other day a father of two young boys said, to me, “After a busy day I cherish the time when I can hold my boys, read books, and put them to sleep.”
My advice to young parents is, adore your children; they are a gift from God before they grow out of your hands and become unmanageable. Worship could happen while we are at work also. In Psalm eight after reading about all the handy works of God, we read about God’s commission to man, which is to work with his hands. Psalm 8:6-7 “You put us in charge of your handcrafted world, repeated to us your Genesis-charge, made us lords of sheep and cattle, even animals out in the wild, Birds flying and fish swimming, whales singing in the ocean deeps.”
Worship is not only adoring and giving praise to God, but it also means work. Worship involves the whole person includes what we do on Monday through Saturday as well as on Sunday. David Currie in his book the BIG IDEA of Biblical Worship notes, “Work and Worship are two enduring realities for believers, as Isaac Watts summed up simply and beautifully in his paraphrase of Psalm 23, “The sure provision of my God attend all my days; oh, may your house be my abode, and all my work be praise.”
So dear friends, in closing! On Sunday mornings, we come to Church to Praise and Adore the God who created the universe. As we do that, we are refreshed, energized, and challenged to go back into the world from Monday to make it a better place through all that we do. Then we come back again on Sunday for more of God in worship and fellowship. These are the beautiful rhythms of Christ’s followers. “We come to God to be with God, then go back into the world to do the work for God.” May God be glorified through all that we do. Amen!
