Sermon(Ps 8): The beautiful name of the Lord

 

The original Korean text : https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025222496

 

 

 

 

Scripture reading: Ps 8

 

>>1 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; 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!<<

 

Beloved brethren, do you feel that the world is beautiful? Then you're blessed. Do you think that God is beautiful(!) and honorable? Then you know God rightly. Let's think reversely. Do you think that the world is full of dirty things? And do you hate God very much? Then you're an unhappy man. Also, you are misunderstanding something. The world is beautiful to those who are blessed by God. The negative aspects of the world do not matter so much to such men, because they are looking at the God who works new creation in those negative things. The world follows after God, the creator of truth and good and beauty, who goes far ahead of all. The God overcoming evil, suffering, and death is a good God. God is the watchman of the truth, who dismisses all falsehoods and reveals the truth. The beauty of heaven and earth, human beings, animals, and music is the work of the omniscient God. Today's text is David's poem. This poem seems to be a poem that David composed after he had gone through hell and high water. Thinking of this and that, David concludes: "God's name is majestic ('beautiful' in Korean version of the text) in all the world!"

 

First David sees the whole earth and the sky and thinks of God. The world is beautiful. Seeing beautiful evening sky, you can realize that also a world that finishes can be beautiful. A day is coming to an end so beautifully, and a bright tomorrow comes again to us since it will be a big cosmic loss for such a beauty to vanish forever. In order to boast another beauty and keep the beauty. Have you smelled the scent of orchid flowers? When I grow orchids and give fertilizer to them, they bloom as a token of gratitude. With only one floral axis, the whole house is filled with fragrance. You will not be able to say that the world is ugly if you see the beautiful heart of the orchids, which want to reward you, and smell the fragrance of those flowers. When it comes to beauty, human being can not be excluded. Beautifully arranged white teeth, smiling mouth, clear and tender eyes, and beautiful cheek, all are beautiful! Also, the neck and the hands are pretty. The God who made all of these is beautiful. The world is so beautiful, therefore God who made them is beauty itself. David was a shepherd when he was young. So he knew the beauty of day and night. Considering that the world is God's creation, the beauty of this world represents his glory. The whole world is beautiful. The desert is beautiful and the icy land of Siberia is beautiful. The beauty of God overflows all over the earth.

 

The glory of God is revealed in the sky. God made the sun, the moon, and the stars, unto the farthest places of the vast universe. The order of the universe is accurate and reliable. It is cosmos that reveals God's greatness and his strict law. God created all of these as man's friends. If there is no star in the night sky, how lonely a man will be who goes alone! But God made the stars so that we might not be lonely at night. The stars run from east to west, man goes his way, making the stars his friends. They do not talk, however they do not think they are lonely because they walk alone. Shepherd David saw the presence of God in heaven, and realized the beauty, order, and faithfulness of God. "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for thou art with me. (Ps 23:4)"

 

I can not help telling you my experience concerning the glory of God. God is invisible, but he wraps his presence with a mysterious, holy, beautiful light like clothes and lets man see his glorious light. I've seen the glory of God several times in my dreams. When God has to give me a message, he shows me his glorious light in dream. There is no such bright, clear, mysterious, beautiful light in the world. There was the most holy beauty in the world there. God is in such a beautiful glory.

 

David recalls that he won the battle against Goliath in the battle against the Philistines. At that time, the boy David defeated Goliath, a fully armed giant. Goliath says first. "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks? (1 Sam 17:43)" So the boy David says. "You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin; but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. (1 Sam 17:45)" Here David had a precious experience. That is "by the mouth of babes and infants, thou hast founded a bulwark because of thy foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. (ver. 2)" Goliath had a terrifying power but no beauty. But David, though young and weak, however, with a beautiful faith, fought Goliath and proved clearly to all how strong young boys are in God. Through the beautiful sacrifice of Jesus Christ, God overcame all the strong and filthy sins of the world. God made the world kneel by the beautiful words "I love you." Beloved Brethren, is an infant afraid of a terrible lion? Is the infant afraid of nuclear bombs? Is a suckling afraid and tremble because a gangster boss is in front of him? No! There is, to an infant, nothing to be afraid of in the world. There is only joy and beauty, as for a baby. Isn't an infant cute? The pretty baby never fears an enemy or an avenger. An enemy or a retaliator can not threaten a pretty baby, saying, "Do you know who I am?" Everyone! How can such evil men be able to challenge the authority of God when they can't threaten even an infant? Because children do not know something like fear or death? Then what if there were adult Christians who knew the pain of death and were not afraid of death? No matter how evil the world is, Christians with a faith like that of a child do not fear it. What a beautiful victory! How beautiful majesty and power! Looking at the pretty little children who do not know fear, we see the beauty of God, the unconquerable beauty that overcomes the strong evil of the world.

 

David became king and reigned over people. God crowned David with glory and honor. People often do not live a beautiful life but have a good appearance only outwardly. But what really matters is a beautiful life. Even though a man has a nice voice and sings very well, he may live a very ugly life. Some women are pretty, but commit adultery every day. It is a disgusting life beyond ugliness. However, there are some people who live with beautiful hearts and decorate their lives beautifully, even though their external sides are not so beautiful. These are believers who resemble God. God is absolutely trustworthy. He is absolutely righteous. He is the absolute truth. So his life is a beautiful life itself in relation to human beings. Does God live a course life? Yes! He is a life, so, naturally he lives a course of life. Enoch walked (lived) with God (Gen 5:24). When we are born in this world, God comes to us and walks and lives with us. David finds the beautiful life of God when he sees that God has finally crowned him, even though he hasn't lived a perfect life. God will be a faithful and eternal companion here and in heaven to those who have kept pure faith for God. He will be the most beautiful companion of life in the world. Many people blame the Christianity and the God of Christianity, but the reason is that they haven't found the beautiful life of God as David did. God is perfectly beautiful, both inwardly and outwardly.

 

What is another beauty of God David found? God gives people the meaning of life. He, who makes others' life meaningful and rich, is a beautiful one. A good teacher makes students have fun to study. A good husband earns money and trusts it to his wife, saying, "Use this money in good conscience as you please, and do your best to keep the house well." A good attitude that enriches the meaning of the wife's life. But some husbands do not have such a generous heart. A good wife acknowledges a broader leadership of her husband as much as possible. So beautiful a wife! These are the imitators (the image) of the God. God created man in the garden of Eden and gave him a beautiful work that he should manage the garden well. God has given him dominion over the works of his hands; God has put all things under his feet (ver. 6). How big and strong the bull is! Such a bull serves a man as its own master, who is much smaller than the bull. God gave man beautiful position and helped him live a meaningful beautiful life. All these things were beautiful and meaningful in David's sight when he became a king and ruled over the people. All of them were precious things that came from the heart of God. So David confessed repeatedly in verse 1 and verse 9, "O Lord, our Lord, how majestic ('beautiful' in Korean version) is thy name in all the earth!"

 

Everyone, what can we learn from today's word of God? What kind of man should we become? We must not be men who destroy beauty. It is a grave sin to destroy a beautiful world. Illegal landfill or incineration of environmental waste is a serious sin to devastate the beautiful world for a long time. It is a sin to overhunt wild animals and to almost exterminate them thanks to a popular belief that such animals are excellent health food, even when there is enough food. Christians, especially, should not commit this sin! Do not commit adultery and rape to destroy beautiful homes and beautiful lives of individuals. Let's not sexually defile or corrupt youth. We were given the duty to preserve the beautiful world in its entirety. Do not become a destroyer. We ourselves must also be beautiful ones. To this end, we need God's help, God who is the origin of beauty. Everyone! Be a beautiful temple of God in God's sight. Embrace beautiful thoughts and use beautiful words. Thank God for all the blessings you have received from him, and sing praise to him. Let's not dress ourselves up too lavishly. You may have plastic surgery to repair the deformed body or to remove some wrinkles, but it is not recommendable to undergo so heavy a plastic surgery, a modifying surgery of the body and face given from God, that no one can recognize you. Brethren, let's make others (other's life) beautiful. Let's speak words of courage and encouragement that make others' lives lively. Let's put a crown of honor on others' head. Yield and delegate things belonging to you to others and help them live a beautiful life. Open the way for them to live a meaningful life. Back them up to live such a life. If you make others' lives beautiful, God, who is the origin of beauty, will decorate your life beautifully, too. He'll put also a crown of power to rule over the world on your head. And, seeing you, people will see the beauty of God.

 

May God, the origin of the beauty, lead you (who are seeking to protect the beauty of the world, others and yourself) to live a beautiful life!

 

Chong Tack Kim

 

                             - Dongtoma Sunshine Church -