Objective:
To understand how two words: humility (in ourselves and others) and God’s majesty, can lead us to right thinking in our lives.
Open:
Have your group think back to the photos in Terry’s opening; ask your group members if they were able to recognize any of the people from the photo’s in his slides.
Now ask them who the current “most” recognizable people of our day are?
What do all these folks, past and present, have in common besides being the current “most” of their day?
They will someday not be the most. The day will likely come when no one on the planet will recognize them or think a thought about them. The worlds “most” anything have been “blinks” and then they are gone, forgotten.
What implications might this have for us personally? Think in terms of life being a “Blink of an eye”.
Read:
Psalm 8:1-8, “LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens. Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”
Hebrews 1:3-4, The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.
Hebrews 2:6-9, But there is a place where someone has testified: “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor and put everything under his feet.” In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
Philippians 2:6-11, Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Phil. 2:14-15, Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe
Phil 2:21, For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.
Study
Psalm 8:1, 8:9 start and end the psalm with the “Majesty of the Lord’s name.” Terry said that Majesty meant the “most” there is no more… He is the most over everything… He is majestic. The New Testament says the same thing in Rev. 1:8, “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty”, and Rev. 22:13, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”
What does this tell us about God?
Read Psalm 8:2 “Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.” Think about all the loud voices that throughout history have tried to defame God… Where are they today?
In what ways has the “singing of a Child” silenced those who try to defame God?
Read Psalm 8:3-4. “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?” In what ways does the psalmist described the Majesty of God?
Have you ever felt like the psalmist as you looked into the night sky? What were the feelings and thoughts that came into your mind?
The word for “man” is a word that emphasizes our mortality, or frailty…our lack of “mostness.” In what way does seeing God’s greatness, His majesty, His mostness, reveal our frailty in these verses?
If we should never try to find our meaning in the pursuit of “mostness”, where should we look to find meaning and why?
Read Psalm 8:5-8.
Terry said that “All human “glory” and “significance” (it’s what is mentioned in these verses) is derived…given, bestowed…contingent on God’s majesty” He also said, our potential for “greatness”…is not inherent in us, it is derived from Him… our meaning is in Him and from Him.”
What do these two statements from Terry mean to you personally?
What are we to do with this? In what way should this truth direct are lives?
Philippians 2 gives a right perspective of our response to God’s majesty. Read Philippians 2:6-11.
What lessons can we apply to our lives?
Paul tells us in Philippians 2:14 what a life lived in humility should look like. What should we avoid and why?
How is “Do everything without complaining or arguing” tied to humility?
Apply:
- Jesus is majestic…life is about him. The more we live this way, the more we are aligning with that is real…reality always wins.
What is something that needs to change in your life if you’re to live this way?
- How we do this (make life about Jesus) is really pretty simple, and enormously difficult.
Why is this true?
How could putting the interest of others first be a step in the right direction?
- Serving and Loving Jesus equals serving and loving others.
Our fundamental approach to others should be like that of Jesus. What does this look like in your life right now? Is there anything that needs to change?