Rev. Jeffrey T.
Howard
Beaver Dam and Pitts
Creek Churches
Sermon Psalm 85 Give
Us What is Good
December 7, 2014
Last week we talked
about our need for a savior when the problems we face are too big for
us to handle. We turn to God is prayer and ask him to save us. Here
is a story of someone who needed a savior.
There was a young
man named Tony. At age 16 Tony was doing well in school and
competed in tennis at the state level. But then he discovered vodka.
He loved the lifestyle of drinking and taking drugs. And Tony
became violent if anyone told him to stop.
Tony's life spun
uncontrollably downhill. He gave up tennis and argued a lot with his
parents. He was violent at school and was asked to leave. This gave
him more time to hang our with friends and party. He believed that
nothing could happen to him. He thought he was immortal.
Tony began to have
problems with his memory and his violence was escalating to the point
where law enforcement was involved. Then he saw one of his closest
friends shot dead. And finally he began to realize that the
lifestyle he had chosen was a dangerous one.
Then one day, after
a night of drinking heavily, Tony's right hand went numb. The
numbness rose up his arm and effected his whole right side. He had
difficulty talking. As he was going to the hospital he prayed to God
promising to change if God would help him.
Shortly after this
he went to talk with a Christian neighbor and asked what God could do
for him. The neighbor told him that God would forgive everything he
had done. All he had to do was confess. He was already good enough
to receive God's salvation. Jesus would be his savior. All Tony had
to do was to accept Jesus into his heart.
Tony
accepted Jesus into his heart that day and the Holy Spirit's work of
transformation began. He has permanent brain damage from the years
of alcohol abuse. And he is suffering from mental illness. But now
he lives filled with hope that his savior, Jesus Christ, is coming.1
Let's
pray. Lord,
how I love this season of new beginnings, the
opportunity to turn toward you and start again. Empower me to be a
messenger of good news, and a leveling influence along the way, as I
seek to be one with you in
smoothing out the rough places I encounter. Amen.”2
Last
week we learned that in the 8th century before Christ the northern
kingdom, Israel, sent a delegation to Jerusalem to ask God to save
them from the Assyrian army. But God ignored their prayers and
Israel was destroyed because they never turned from their idolatry,
toward the only God who could save them. Today we turn our attention
southward to the nation of Judah. The Assyrian army has arrived, and
is at the city gates threatening to destroy them as well. Judah will
also turn to God and ask for a savior. And this time a savior will
come.
Hezekiah
was the king of Judah when Israel was destroyed. He removed the
shrines of the pagan gods from his country, and restored the worship
of their Lord God, Yahweh. He enforced the Law of Moses and told his
people to be obedient to God. And so when the Assyrian army
surrounded Jerusalem God heard the prayers of King Hezekiah. The king
entered into the Holy of Holies in the Jerusalem Temple and prayed:
2
Kings 19:15-19 - 15b
“Lord,
the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God
over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.
16
Give
ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to the
words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God. 17
“It
is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations
and their lands.18
They
have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they
were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. 19
Now,
Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of
the earth may know that you alone, Lord, are God.”
God
delivered them from their enemies. That night a mysterious illness
struck down 185,000 soldiers camped outside Jerusalem. The decimated
Assyrian army limped home never to threaten Judah again. Judah
responded with a prayer of thanksgiving for the God that had saved
them.
Psalm 85 1You,
Lord, showed favor to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
2
You
forgave the iniquity of your people and covered all their sins. 3
You
set aside all your wrath and turned from your fierce anger.
Hezekiah
acknowledged and confessed that it was Yahweh, the Lord God who had
saved them. It was not anything he had done. And God had acted
because the people of Judah had turned away from their idols and
confessed Yahweh to be the only God. As a result of the faithfulness
of the people, Judah had been saved from the fate that befell the
northern kingdom called Israel. God had saved them from the
Assyrians. Let's go back to the psalmist.
Psalm
85: 8 I will listen to what God the Lord says; he promises peace to
his people, his faithful servants— but let them not turn to folly.
9
Surely
his salvation is near those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in
our land.
So God promised his
people that they would live in peace because of their faithfulness to
him. So too with us. If we stay faithful, God will protect us.
This has been the story of America. As a nation made up by faithful
Christians we have been richly blessed with peace on our soil since
the civil war. But I fear that as America become less and less
faithful that the protection God has given us may be withdrawn. We
already see some signs with terrorism and protests in our cities. We
need to turn back to God and get rid of the idols of consumerism and
political power. If we do turn back to God the blessings we receive
are wonderful.
10 Love
and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each
other. 11
Faithfulness
springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from
heaven. 12
The
Lord will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its
harvest. 13
Righteousness
goes before him and prepares the way for his steps.
And so we rejoice
this Christmas that a savior is coming. He will deal with the
problems we can't solve ourselves. All we have to do is have faith
in his faithfulness. Turn away from the false gods of money and
power. Turn to the one true God who comes to us at Christmas as
Jesus Christ. Let's pray.
Lord God we confess
that we worship the gods of consumerism and power. We worship at
shopping malls and online. We spend all our time accumulating and
spending money. We confess our idolatry. And we turn to you, our
savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
1http://www.city-data.com/forum/christianity/1033507-my-story-how-jesus-saved-me.html
2Feasting
on the Word Worship Companion: Liturgies for Year B, Volume 1 ©
2014 Westminster John Knox Press p24.
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