Psalm 8

I have a question for you. (As I usually do.)

What is the meaning of life?

I know. I know. I couldn’t have asked a harder question this morning.

This is a hard question to answer because people have been struggling to answer this question from the beginning of time and will continue to ponder, debate, and give their own opinions as to what the answer to this question is until the end of time.

Some of the answers that people give and some of these may be your answer or answers are:

The meaning of life is….

• Entering a romantic relationship — having a boyfriend or girlfriend, getting married, and staying married until death do you part

• Procreation — having children and raising them to be good and decent people who are kind, generous, and a help to others

• Finding a career — picking a major in college, studying hard to learn all of the ins and outs of that major, graduating, and entering the job field where you can make a lasting difference in your area of expertise

Pop culture has even offered their opinions to the what the meaning of life is through literature and film.

In one of my favorite science fiction book series, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, after 7.5 million years of calculation by a supercomputer named Deep Thought, the answer to the meaning of life is given as being the number “42.”

In Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life, there are several allusions to the meaning of life. At the end of the film, a character is handed an envelope containing “the meaning of life”, which she opens and reads out to the audience: “Well, it’s nothing very special. Uh, try to be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try to live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”

And, in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, the characters, after finishing a report on the history of the world, her major leaders, and their philosophies,  are asked how what the meaning of life is.  They respond to their classmates with the answer, ‘be excellent to each other’ followed by ‘party on, dudes!’.

Even though we may spend time trying to find meaning and purpose for each day we walk this earth, the hard truth is that many of us often end up with the hopeless thought and feeling that there is no meaning or purpose to life.

Regardless of what we say or do, we live as practical nihilists. 

In our text for this morning, from the book of Psalms, when we hear King David speak, the one that God himself called “a man after his own heart,” we get the sense that when King David looks at himself and the rest of the human population he can’t help but think about the meaning of life and the thought that maybe there isn’t any real point or purpose to our lives.

However, as we will hear, when King David once again focuses his attention on God, the creator of the Universe, and the redeemer of humanity through the gift of His Son Jesus, he finds himself standing in awe of the fact that God, regardless of humanity’s brokenness, has instilled in each of us meaning and purpose for this life.

Let’s hear what King David has to say.

In Psalm 8, King David says this:

[1] O LORD, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory above the heavens.

[2] Out of the mouth of babies and infants,

you have established strength because of your foes,

to still the enemy and the avenger.

[3] When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,

[4] what is man that you are mindful of him,

and the son of man that you care for him?

[5] Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings

and crowned him with glory and honor.

[6] You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;

you have put all things under his feet,

[7] all sheep and oxen,

and also the beasts of the field,

[8] the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,

whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

[9] O LORD, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth! (ESV)

As King David looks at God and then looks a his own brokenness and selfishness, he can’t believe that God thinks about him all of the time.

In verse 3 and 4, King David says,

[3] When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,

[4] what is man that you are mindful of him,

and the son of man that you care for him?

What King David is pointing too is the fact that God, yes, the One who created the Heavens and the Earth and sustains them day to day, thinks about him every second of his life.  

God didn’t turn his face away or shut David out after his ungodly thoughts, words, and behavior, NO!, God’s love for David, regardless of his sin, puts David at the forefront of God’s mind all of the time.  

Through faith in Jesus, God is a friend that is real, a friend that loves you, a friend that you can trust, and a friend that is forever.

One of my favorite verses, that I have shared with you several times before, comes from Isaiah 49.16, where God says this to me and you:

[16] Behold, I have engraved you [and your name] on the palms of my hands;

your [life] is continually before me. (ESV)

Because God’s grace leads him to love you, regardless of the brokenness and selfishness that you bring into this world, God has also created you with meaning and purpose.

In verses 6-8, King David says this about himself, me, and you:

[5] Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings

and crowned him with glory and honor.

[6] You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;

you have put all things under his feet,

[7] all sheep and oxen,

and also the beasts of the field,

[8] the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,

whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

God cancels meaningless and purposeless living for King David and for you!

In this life, God has given you authority and responsibility to take care of all that he has created.

That means, as you walk the earth today, tomorrow, this week, next month, and even years from now, your life has eternal meaning and purpose as you take care of the things and people that God has made.

Marvel Comics fans the world over were shaken when they learned about the death of Chadwick Boseman, the star of Black Panther. Death is always shocking, but Boseman’s passing was all the more gripping because nobody knew what the star had been facing.

While filming for blockbusters like 21 Bridges, Avengers: Infinity War, Black Panther, and Marshall, Boseman was undergoing treatments for stage 3 colon cancer. He knew something about trials, and shared this wisdom in a 2018 commencement address at his alma mater, Howard University:

Sometimes you need to feel the pain and sting of defeat to activate the real passion and purpose that God predestined inside of you. God says in Jeremiah, “I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”.

Later, he continued:

… you would rather find purpose than a job or career. Purpose crosses disciplines. Purpose is an essential element of you. It is the reason you are on the planet at this particular time in history. Your very existence is wrapped up in the things you are here to fulfill. Whatever you choose for a career path, remember, the struggles along the way are only meant to shape you for your purpose.

Then he concludes:

When God has something for you, it doesn’t matter who stands against it. God will move someone that’s holding you back away from the door and put someone there who will open it for you if it’s meant for you. I don’t know what your future is, but if you are willing to take the harder way, the more complicated one, the one with more failures at first than successes, the one that has ultimately proven to have more meaning, more victory, more glory then you will not regret it.

In the on-going attempt to trap Jesus, God’s Messiah, the Savior, in words of blasphemy against God and/or the state, a nah-sayer, who also happened to be a lawyer approached Jesus with this question:

Matthew 22:34–40

[36] “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 

[37] And [in response Jesus] said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. [38] This is the great and first commandment. [39] And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. [40] On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (ESV)

What Jesus is saying to all of those that are listening, including you this morning is that life has meaning and purpose.

Through faith in Jesus’ perfectly lived life for you, death on the cross for you, and resurrection from the grave for you, your brokenness, your selfishness, your sin, is forgiven and you are restored back into a relationship with God the Father in Heaven.

In that relationship, meaningless and purposeless living in canceled because your eyes are opened once again to the responsibility that God has built into your very nature from the moment of conception.

In these simple words, with a hat tip to pop culture, Jesus cancels meaningless and purposeless living by letting you know that the meaning of your life is to:

“Love God and be excellent to one another!”

With this simple definition of the meaning of life, straight from the mouth of Jesus, who is God in the flesh, you are strengthened everyday to make the world a better place one thought, one word, and/or one deed at a time.

So, go this week and live your life with meaning and purpose by

“Loving God and being excellent to one another!”

This is the Word of God for you today. 

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

August 11, 2024.