This sermon is based on Psalm 8, which I will now read from the ESV English Standard Version Translation. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens, out of the mouth of babes and infants. You have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands. You have put all things under His feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth! Now as we move to the sermon, I do want to make just a couple of notes. First of all, this sermon was preached at a combined worship service with another congregation. This congregation had recently lost its pastor very suddenly as he was called into the kingdom after a stroke, and I was filling in there in our congregation combined with them for the joint worship service. Secondly, we actually conducted this service in a public park outside under a pavilion. So if you hear any of the references I make to that about being outside, and also you might hear some kind of outside noises as well, some sounds. So I did want to make note of that before we begin the sermon. So now that we've heard the word of God, we move to the sermon that is expounding on Psalm 8. Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. The primary text for today, Holy Trinity Sunday, is Psalm 8. And the title of the sermon is, What is man that you are mindful of him? We see in our text today the majestic and powerful name of God. The God who has created the whole world and everything in it. We as human beings, we deserve nothing good from God. But he gives us an incredible responsibility for his creation. Finally, this text teaches us that God can even use what is seen as weak to accomplish his mission. This is Holy Trinity Sunday. That Sunday of the year, as we said, when we confess the Athanasian Creed, we focus on the doctrine of the Trinity, that there is one God in three persons. And this year, Holy Trinity Sunday is also Father's Day. It's a day when we especially remember and honor our earthly fathers. Now the first member of the Trinity is God the Father. So it's very appropriate, I think, that today is Trinity Sunday. And if you remember from catechism class, the primary role of the Father is creation. In our text from Psalm 8, that role of the Father is very clear, isn't it? As we heard about creation there, you may want to even look in your Kimno again there at Psalm 8. So this is Yahweh, the Creator Lord. So at first glance, this may not seem like a Trinitarian text. But, if we go to the beginning of the Bible, Genesis chapter 1, we see right away that all three members of the Trinity are involved in creation. The very beginning of the Bible, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God hovered over the waters. So right away we see the Father and the Spirit. Then in the following verses, what do we see? God begins to create everything in the universe. And how does He do that? By speaking it into existence with His Word. Well, who is the Word? We know from John chapter 1, the Word is the pre-incarnate Christ. So right away in creation, we see all members of the Trinity are in existence. They are co-equal. They are acting. They are omnipotent. Only God can create something from nothing. Now of course there is another theory of origins that is popular today. This is Darwinian evolution. Now in this theory, which is really more of a belief because no one can actually observe it, There is no need for God. Now, this does not mean that everyone who believes in evolution is an atheist, but it does mean that atheism requires evolution as some way to explain how we got here. Of course, that theory teaches that everything developed over millions and billions of years by natural selection. Random chance is what it will tell us, that everything in the world that we see here today somehow arose through a random process and survival of the fittest. But that stands in contrast to what the Bible teaches us, doesn't it? We heard that today. What the Bible teaches us is that creation was not random. Creation was ordered. We see there is this chaos at the beginning of Genesis, and then God creates order. He didn't need billions of years. He only needed six days. Now, in evolutionary teaching, man is also considered a highly evolved animal. But the Bible teaches us that humankind is actually the capstone of God's creation. Verses 26 through 28 of Genesis 1 tell us that the triune God made male and female in His image, and He gave them dominion over the earth, and they should subdue it. So far from some evolutionary dealing of the cards that just turned up aces, we see that God designed the world. And he gives us an incredible responsibility. Now there are some species in the animal kingdom that are incredibly intelligent. If you like to watch any of these nature shows, you see this. I'm thinking things like apes, specifically chimpanzees, dolphins. These animals are incredibly intelligent, aren't they? But the last time I checked, we've never found a group of chimpanzees doing experiments and documenting the results on humans. Other than maybe in Planet of the Apes movies, but those are fiction, right? So as intelligent as these animals are, it's man that has subdued them, that studies them, that makes notes about their behavior. It's really pretty obvious. Evangelist Ray Comfort put it this way, birds like parrots can be taught to speak. With the crack of a whip, lions will do what man says. Even killer whales can be taught to obey his voice. Cows yield milk for his cereal, cheese for his hamburger, butter for his bread, yogurt to keep him healthy. Ice cream to delight his taste buds on hot days. The same cow gives him meat to make him strong. Leather to keep him warm. Sheep and goats also yield many of the same products. Chickens make eggs for his breakfast and provide finger licking meat for his dinner. The oceans overflow with an incredible variety of seafood for him to catch and eat. Dogs protect his property and herd his sheep. Elephants lift great weights for him. Camels carry him across deserts. The horse is perfectly designed to be ridden by him. So even in a fallen world, it is very obvious that man has dominion over creation. and that there is benefit of the creation for us. This is what we read about in verses six through eight of our psalm for today. But many have historically got it backwards, haven't they? And they've worshipped the creation rather than the Creator. So this brings us to the question that is asked in verse 4, and it forms the question of the sermon title for today. What is man that you are mindful of him? You have put all things under his feet. So this great responsibility that God has given us, do we deserve it? No, we don't deserve it. In fact, we don't deserve anything good from God. Anything that is good that we get is from His hand. It's by His mercy, love, and grace that we have these good things. Verse 1 and 8 bookend the psalm by saying, Our Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth. You have set Your glory above the heavens. It's a beautiful verse, it's actually chanted in the Matins liturgy. God is so much more powerful, more holy, more good than we can ever imagine. But yet, he has given us so much. And what have we done, though, with this responsibility of dominion? We are to be good stewards of God's creation, good managers of the environment. But the history of humankind shows that we have often polluted the creation with reckless abandon in pursuit of profit in excess. Many cities of our world sit under a cloud of smog. Just the other day, I looked at my weather app in Athens. It said dangerous atmosphere conditions. Oceans are rife with plastic debris that choke wildlife. Animals are to be used for our benefit, but there have been so many abuses where there has been extinction of species and the endangerment of others. When we get tired of something, what do we do? We just throw it away. We go buy more. We don't even really think about it many times. So in many cases, we have not been good stewards of this creation that God has placed us over. So maybe it's appropriate we are out in a natural environment today and we can see not only things that are manmade like this ball field and playground, but we can see the trees and the waters, all these things that God has given us. And even the manmade things wouldn't be here without him, right? Because he has given us the intelligence and the ability to do these things. And it's not just the physical aspect. It's the spiritual. God created Adam and Eve. He put them in a literal paradise with one rule. One rule that was quickly broken. And Satan came with temptation that questioned God's word. It caused Adam and Eve to question God's love for them. And sin entered the world. And with it, death. And what is the history of the world? As a history teacher, as I teach history, we realize that the history of the world is often man's humanity to man. Think about how wicked the world was before God sent the flood. Think about things like slavery, the Holocaust, and we could go on. So much wickedness in this world that God had put us to have dominion over. But God and His mercy continues to provide what we need. One of the truths that I try to live by is this, I don't deserve anything good because I am wicked and I am a wretched sinner. So anything that God decides to bestow on me is something I should be thankful for. Now, I confess that I often fall short of having that proper perspective, but I keep reminding myself of that. I deserve nothing. Anything that I have is a blessing. We must trust God when things happen that we don't understand. And I am thankful to be here today with God's people at St. John the Apostle Lutheran Church. I have preached here, I don't think outside, but inside. A few years back, gosh, it's probably been over four or five years now. And I believe that this is a great outpost of the gospel in this community. And it's a very important thing that you are here. As we drove in today, we can tell this area is growing. There's all kinds of new housing developments in this area. And this area needs an outpost of faithful gospel preaching and faithful administration of the sacraments. But the obvious thing here is that I am only here today because something very difficult happened. And it happened very suddenly at that. And that sometimes our finite human minds, we cannot answer why things happen. But we know that God knows much more than we do, and we must trust him. We must be thankful for what he allowed Pastor Sims to begin here and to nurture here before he was called to his eternal home. Because this is what faith is about. It's about trusting God in things that we cannot understand with our reason, logic, and our senses. Hebrews tells us that faith is the evidence of things unseen. God will accomplish His plans and His purposes. You can be assured of that. Verse 2 of Psalm 8. Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have established truth because of your foes to still the enemy and the avenger. I love that verse because on the surface level it appears to make no sense at all, does it? Because when we think about strength, do we think of babies and infants? No. When we think about how we will destroy and vanquish our enemies, do we think of babies and infants? No. But think about a few things here. Compared to God's majesty, power, and strength, we, all of us, are babes and infants. What is man? That you are mindful of him, God. He allows us not only to live, but to subdue the earth. And when God showed up in human form on earth, how did He come? As a baby in a manger in a small town. A baby lying in an animal feeding trough where people said, this is the King, this is the Savior. Yes, He was. And yes, He is. And it was on an instrument of execution, a Roman cross that looked like defeat to the world. But as Jesus pointed to Nicodemus and John 3 in the Old Testament foreshadowed with the pole that was lifted up by Moses to the Israelites, it is in the cross that God is ultimately glorified. And in terms of faith, What is given as the greatest example in the kingdom of heaven? Who does Jesus lift up as the great example? A child. A child. And actually in Psalm 8-2 is quoted in Matthew chapter 21. I knew it was quoted in there somewhere, but I looked at the context of this again. And this is right after Jesus clears the temple at the beginning of Holy Week. And then the Bible tells us that He healed a bunch of people. And then it says that there were a group of children that were shouting, Hosanna to the King. And the scribes and the Pharisees They observed this and they said, basically, this is foolishness that is going on. But then Jesus says, have you not read out of the mouths of infants and nursing babes? You have prepared praise. Now, there is a radio segment that later became a TV segment, and it eventually became a full-blown series. I bet many of you have seen this, called Kids Say the Darnedest Things. Did you ever watch that or see that? Well, the premise of the show is pretty simple. They would ask children adult-type questions and then see what the kids said, and then we all laughed at what the children said. Now I think we could make a Christian version of this program from a lot of the funny things that happen in the church. Now, one of my pastor friends in Alabama, he shared something from a children's sermon. And as a pastor, you always get a little bit nervous about children's sermons, especially when you're asking the kids questions, because you never know what they're going to say in front of the whole congregation. And he was giving a children's message. It was sometime around Mother's Day or Father's Day. And he was talking to the kids about how God uses moms and dads to help provide for us. So he asked the children. Tell me what your mom or dad does for a living. And this one little girl whose mother was not a member of the congregation, but I think she had come through VVS or something that Sunday, said, my mama works at Love Stuff. Now, if you've ever been down I-20 in Alabama, you know Love Stuff is an adult-themed thing that has all these billboards down I-20. Now, what did you say, right? The kid and the children said, so out of the mouth of babes. It's a little dangerous. Well, there was also that time that a Sunday school teacher was impressing on the children in her class. If my notes don't fly away here, it might get a little more adventurous here. Why, asked the class, why are we supposed to be quiet in church? And the little boy said, because people are sleeping, you know? Which may be true sometimes, right? And then finally, another pastor that I know who is now retired, served in Georgia for many years, he told me that he always enjoyed teaching about the Lord's Supper to the elementary kids. And he said because they always got it. He would simply just tell them that Jesus made this special meal for us. And it's so great because he gives us not only bread and wine, but he also tells us this is his body and blood. And then he would read from them from the Gospels where Jesus said that. And he said every time all these little kids would be like, that is so awesome, Pastor. Isn't Jesus cool? Something like that. But then when he's trying to teach it to teenagers and adults, It's harder, right? Because our reason gets in the way and we think, well how can it be body and blood and bread and wine at the same time? Where the child will just say, that's great Jesus, whatever you say. And it's at times of loss often when someone passes as you've experienced here and we've experienced in our congregation recently in the last couple weeks, a child will say something like, it's okay because they're with Jesus now. And you know what? They really mean it. They don't think anything different. And one last thing from the children I didn't share. There was a daughter who asked her father, who was a pastor, why he always prayed before his sermons. And the pastor said to his daughter, I pray that the Lord will help me preach a good sermon. And the daughter said, well, why doesn't he ever answer your prayer? So I hope that's not the case today, out of the elements, that you've heard something that has taught you something from the Word of God. And it wasn't my daughter that said that, by the way. But it was another pastor's daughter. We think of these things that our children say, and those of you that are fathers and mothers, you know that's some of the great things about parenting, some of the things your kids say. Sometimes you shake your head, but sometimes you smile, because it's so profound. It's the little child has got it. And that shouldn't really surprise us, because that's exactly what Jesus told us. And Martin Luther also wrote to the same effect, that little children understood theology more than the popes and the bishops and all this that were confusing it. So God did create the world. He created it just like He said He did. He has created us humans a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned Him with glory and honor and given dominion over the works of your hands. So we don't deserve any of this, but the order of creation makes plain what God's word says. Despite our sin, despite our questioning of God's motives, He still loves us. And God has no obligation to be mindful of man, but it's out of His divine fatherly goodness that He opens the treasures of the kingdom, both here on earth and in eternity, to all believers. So we lift our voices to the triune God, just as King David did in the psalm. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth. Amen.