You are Special

It's excellent to see you here, and I'm glad you pushed through and madeit. Psalm 8, page 535 in the Red Bibles, Psalm 8.

Two Sundays ago there was the Bathurst 1000, the event of the yearfor petrol heads, or maybe we call them racing aficionados. And let's face it,the Bathurst 1000: you either love it or you hate it. It used to be Holdenversus Ford; now it's V8 Supercars—they're all made in America, which is kindof disappointing, but you get the idea. It's the mountain circuit of Bathurst,round and round they go: 161 laps, 1,049 kilometers, and you say to yourself,"What is the point?"

But then they zoom in on a human interest story and now we care. V8Supercars are more than just colored bits of metal going round and round andround, because they have people who drive them, and these people have names:Brock, Chaz, and Anton who led the race and ran out of fuel with 5 km to go—hemade it 995 kilometers and ran out of fuel in the last lap! They havepersonalities, they belong to teams, they have stories to tell. It does matterwho wins or loses, and that's the point.

And that's why our lives matter, because we are more than just coloredbits of atoms. We have names, we have a soul, we have a story to tell; itdoes matter if we win or lose because humans are special. And deep downwe kind of suspect this. We suspect it against the opposition that's clearly inour faces all the time. I mean, it was bad enough when my calculator could domaths better than I can, but now we have artificial intelligence that seems tobe able to do almost anything better than we can.

You are special, though. Sometime in the 1960s, self-esteem becamevery important; it became very important to feel great about yourself. Policymakers believed that if you could raise a population's self-esteem, there wouldbe lower crime rates, better school outcomes, lower unemployment, better mentalhealth. So suddenly we had games where there were no winners and no losers, butawards for participation, trophies for just turning up, because it said thatevery single one of us can be massively successful, every single one of you canbe exceptional.

But you know what? There's 8.32 billion people in the world. 260 are bornevery minute, 121 die every minute. How is it that I can be special? Andif you think about it, there's a bit of a problem with this whole idea of beingspecial. There's a bit of a problem here: it turns out that feeling good aboutyourself doesn't mean anything unless you have a really good reason to feelgood about yourself. Feeling good about yourself in itself is not enough, andit turns out that adversity and failure is not only useful, but necessary fordeveloping strong-minded adults. I read something not so long ago that listed300 great leaders, and it said that a whole lot of great leaders—300—wereorphans, and yet they rose to achieve great things. You might know that Vincentvan Gogh, who was famous for The Starry Night painting, suffered withdepression. So it turns out that adversity and failure are not necessarily badthings to develop us.

It turns out that self-confidence is not everything, and if you are tooself-confident, it can quite quickly lead to entitlement, where you feellike you deserve certain things from life. Am I special? Most of us are prettyaverage at most things. Even if you're exceptional at one thing, the chancesare you're pretty average at almost everything else. We only have limited timeand energy and resources to achieve things.

I think it was last week or the week before Steve Smith, the Australiancricketer, claimed the record for the most Test match catches by anon-wicketkeeper. Steve Smith has the record of 224 catches in Test matches.He's extraordinary, but how much time did he take to learn that skill? How muchpractice do you need to get that good? How many games do you need to play justto get 224 catches? Because he's done that, he hasn't got the time to beexceptional at other things, like say he wanted to speak French. He's probablynot got the time to put in because he's playing cricket all the time, unlessmaybe he's speaking French while he's playing cricket and he's sitting at firstslip talking to the wicketkeeper, and French cricket—he could be doing that!Thank you, I like the thought.

But the point is, he's an exceptional catcher, but he's ordinary at mostother things, and we're all pretty average at most things. But it's theextremes that get the publicity. So think about the bell curve andnormal distribution. Most of us are in the middle, but we're mostly consciousof the extremes all the time. So it often works like this: I'm in the middle ofthe curve, I'm just average; but you are on the top, you're special, or maybeyou're on the bottom and you're special in a different way. But we look at theextremes mostly. Social media and the mass media flood our screens with tidalwaves of information, and because our attention is limited, the only thingsthat get through is the really exceptional, the extraordinary, the best of thebest or the worst of the worst, the funniest, the most upsetting, the scariest,non-stop, all the time.

You can be in this world, you can be a famous influencer for really noreason at all, it just sort of happened. You can be a celebrity for no apparentreason other than you're a celebrity. You can be a super talented actor or asuper talented musician and never get recognized. You can be a famous sportingstar and completely fail as a human being. See, the extremes of the bell curveis what gets the eyeballs, and the eyeballs gets the dollars—that's the bottomline. And the nightly news works like this too: we get extremes given us on thenightly news, but that's not life. Life is mostly in the middle somewhere, butwe only see the extremes. The vast majority of life is humdrum; the vastmajority of life is unextraordinary. I think I remember mentioning to you, Iheard of a school principal who said to their parents—so if you can imagine aschool principal standing up in front of a whole group of new Year 7 parents,and the principal said, "Your child is probably just normal. I know youthink they're exceptional, but they are probably just normal."

And so we think the exceptional is normal, and we're not exceptional, sowe're not normal. The idea is inherently contradictory, because if everyone wasextraordinary, then by definition no one would be extraordinary. And the resultis we often feel insecure, and we have self-doubt and maybe even shame: "I'mnot as strong as that person, I'm not as popular as that person, I'm not ashandsome as that person, I'm not as clever as that person." Beingaverage becomes the new standard of failure. If our measure of success is theextreme of the bell curve, the worst you can be is in the middle.

So what does the Bible say about being special? Well, Psalm 8—youwere dying to get there, weren't you? You were saying, "Hurry up, we wantto get to Psalm 8." Psalm 8, page 535. Psalm 8 has the answer. Psalm 8 isa song that was inspired by the first chapter of the Bible. Remember those openinglines, the first chapter of the Bible: "In the beginning, God...""In the beginning, God created..." And they fill in the restof the sentence: "In the beginning, God..." God did.

It's a song about creation, and the centerpiece of this psalm is in themiddle, verses 4 and 5: the mystery of humankind. See what he says inthis version here in the Red Bible, it's using "man" as generic torefer to humankind, and I'm going to probably use those words because if I keepsaying "humankind", it's just a mouthful all the time, but we'll seehow we go. "What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of manthat you care for him?" What is humankind that you're mindful of them,human beings that you care for them? "You've made them a little lowerthan the heavenly beings and crowned them with glory and honor."

The mystery is that in such an impressive world, God should communicatewith humankind, should create humankind. The explanation is that God has rankedhumans with the divine beings. "You made him a little lower than theheavenly beings." In the original language, it's the Elohim; it'slike the royal heavenly court. You've made humans just a little lower thanthat. You've made them rulers over the works of your hands (verse 6). You puteverything under their feet (verse 7): all flocks and herds, and the animals ofthe wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea. Humans are crownedwith divine splendor. The psalmist has in mind here Genesis 1, the image ofGod. God created humans, mankind in his image; male and female he created them.Therefore, humans are special.

The context of the contrast here is the moon and the stars. See verse 4: "WhenI consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars,which you've set in place..." He sees the vast expanse of the heavensand he says it's just God's fingers—it's just tiny little fingers that havedone all this. You may have had that experience of being out away from thelight noise of the city. I can remember a time some years ago now, camping inthe Flinders Ranges, just a long, long way away from any other city, and youlook up into the starry skies and it's not just the number of stars, but it'slike you could see the depth of them. What are humans that you are mindful of? "WhenI consider the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars whichyou've set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him?" Theheavens with its array of heavenly bodies—what is humankind?

That's the question he's wrestling with. Humans seem so finite in thewhole cosmic plan; we seem so accidental or incidental. Our world is but anatom in the space universe, and he meditates on the human stature: howinsignificant in the scheme of things! The contrast is the littleness of humansand the greatness of God. We seem a speck, an atom, a vapor. Even a tree canendure for a thousand years—even a tree, humans far less. But humans aremade in the image of God. God has revealed his name to humans: the LORD.Humans are the last and the fullest expression of his thoughts. What is man?What are humans? They are as close to God as you can logically possibly bewithout being God. That's pretty special! But it's not just you as anindividual; you're not the only one. The person next to you as well—they arealso created in the image of God.

Why are we special? We're created in the image of God. The psalmist seesthe great depths and vastness of the universe, and although we're small, we'recreated by God and for God. But it's interesting, it's not the main point. Whatis man? What are humans? There is a bigger question, a bigger point, and thebigger question is: Who is God? See, look at verses 1 and 2 where hebegins, and verse 9 where he ends. It's the same: "O LORD, our Lord,how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above theheavens." Or verse 9 at the end: "O LORD, our Lord, howmajestic is your name in all the earth!" It's like the bookends. Thebig question is: Who is God?

He reflects on the majesty of God: "You have set your glory inthe heavens through the praise of children and infants." You can onlyunderstand humans in terms of God. We can only speak of humans as we locatethem within the divine will. There's a question tied up in the middle of humanidentity: Who is God? It's in being associated with God that you find thetruest expression of human identity.

A few months ago I was looking through my wardrobe and I discovered apair of Birkenstocks, and I thought to myself, "Whose are these?" Andthen I remembered: "You bought them, you idiot! You just haven't wornthem; you just keep thinking that they're somebody else's." And I used tothink Birkenstocks were daggy, especially if you wear them with socks and cargoshorts, but Birkenstocks are now all the rage, mostly because Margot Robbiewears them in the Barbie movie. Suddenly they are fashionable. Whatmakes them fashionable is that she wears them. Because Margot Robbie wearsthem, they're okay. Suddenly they are special.

The Bible says, "I'm made in the image of God; because I'm made byGod, then I'm okay, and I'm special because I'm made by him." But morethan that, God, the great one, is happy to associate with me, to associate hisname with me. I'm not ever going to be fashionable, but God is happy to beassociated with me. And that is the wonderful thing: I am somebody because ofthe way I'm related to him. He is the great figure, and I'm somehow derivative.

What is mankind that you visit them? God has visited mankind. Whenthe letter to the Hebrews takes up Psalm 8 in the New Testament, it says Godhas not sent an angel, but he sent his Son. God has visited us in his Son. Whatis man? The psalmist can only ask the question because of the beginning and endof the question: Who is God? A true understanding of ourselves is possible whenwe ask ourselves the same question: Who is God? Jesus put it like this, hesaid, "Who do people say I am?" He asks them to make a finding on theidentity of Jesus.

The Greek philosopher Protagoras said man is the measure of all things.That's to demean man. Man's not the measure of all things. Man is something,humans are something in the context of the God who has made them. We're notmade for extinction. How could God create such a being as humankind and havethem fall into extinction?

But the Bible doesn't just leave it there. It also says you have apurpose that makes you special. Now, I don't actually like mowing. It's notjust one thing, it's a whole lot of things I don't like about it: it'stime-consuming, it's messy, sweaty, all those sorts of things, and the worstpart is the grass just grows back anyway! But I've taken to mowing—went to Aldilast year and bought a mower, and I've taken to mowing because I'm reallytrying to make the grass in the backyard grow so that what it will do is whenthe rain comes, it'll stop the erosion and the dirt going down into the drainsand things like that, and it seems to be working.

Why do I mow even though I don't particularly like it? It's purposeful.The result is worth it, and in a way, it's kind of like a metaphor for life.Lots of life is boring, but you see, if there's a purpose, then that makes allthe difference. We can have a purpose in life if we know why we're here. AndPsalm 8 is saying it's not just about being made in the image of God and beingrelated to God, but it's actually getting to know God, because the psalmistknows God, and they know the reason why they're here.

Competition's a great thing, but you don't have to compete with othersjust to establish yourself as special. You don't have to compare yourself withthe extremes if you know the truths of Psalm 8. You don't have to clamor overothers just to make your way to the top of the pole; it's all about trustingyour Redeemer and your Creator. And the truth is that some people are moreimportant than me. Sometimes others' needs are more crucial than my needs. Theworld doesn't exist just for me and what I want, even though I'm special.

There is great peace and freedom in coming to accept this. This is atruth that allows me to relax and enjoy other people. So it means:

• You can serve others.
• You can be patient with people.
• You can be patient in the traffic     and in the lines.
• You can slow down and stop and     listen to other people.
• You can give that annoying person     or that very anxious person a bit of time.
• You can give the other person the     benefit of the doubt.
• Sometimes you can go without some     of the luxuries in life so you can be generous.

Hey, you are special, but not that special! And there areother people as well who are special. These are all lessons I'm trying tolearn, and as soon as you realize that you're not all that special, thepressure comes off, and you're free to accomplish things that really matter:the pleasures of a simple friendship, the pleasures of creating something,perhaps helping a person in need, the pleasures of reading a good book, oflaughing with someone you care about. It sounds pretty ordinary, but that'sbecause these are the things that really matter.

Let's pray, shall we?

"Heavenly Father, we thank you for these words. We thank you for thequestion that is put to us here: the question of our human identity. But we'reeven more appreciative of the question that is deeper than that: of who is God?Who are you? And my prayer, Heavenly Father, is that for each of us, we may, infinding the answer to that second question, also find the answer to the firsteven more fully. We pray this in Jesus' name, Amen."

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