Sermon – Psalm 126 – Restore Fortunes

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

Sermon – Psalm 126 – Restore Fortunes

March 6, 2016

            Our Lenten Journey with the Psalms is coming to a close.  Over the last few weeks we have learned that we can trust God as our refuge and fortress in times of trouble.  Then we learned to trust God by seeking his face in worship, Bible study and prayer.  We saw in David an example of one who trusted in God as he fled into the desert from King Saul.  And last week we heard that our happiness is dependent on our trusting in God’s forgiveness when we confess our sin.  Trusting God has brought us this far.  But our journey is not yet over.

            Next Sunday is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week.  We will join Jesus and his disciples in a procession into Jerusalem, and around a table for the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday.  We will join with other churches as we walk with Jesus to the cross, Crosswalk on the Ocean City boardwalk on Good Friday.  And two weeks from today we will celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  But all of this is still in the future.  We are not there yet. We are still in our pilgrimage, and all we have is hope that comes from trusting God.  We turn to Psalm 126.  But first, let’s pray.

            “Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

            Psalm 126 was traditionally sung by pilgrims making their way to the Jerusalem temple.  It is called a Psalm of Assent.  As pilgrims climbed up the fifteen steps leading to the temple they would sing psalms.  And on the seventh step they would sing the 126^th Psalm.

Psalm 126:1 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
    we were like those who dreamed.
² Our mouths were filled with laughter,
    our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
    “The Lord has done great things for them.”
³ The Lord has done great things for us,
    and we are filled with joy.

            The psalmist remembers a time when God had restored the fortunes of the people.   When the Bible speaks about restoring fortunes it is referring to the changing the conditions that brought about God’s wrath to conditions that bring about God’s blessing and mercy.  The Israelites had angered God by not caring for the poor and needy.  The result was a withdraw of God protection and a period of exile.  But then the conditions changed.  A new generation was born and they were willing to care for the disadvantaged.  God restored them to Jerusalem.

            The people of God had spent a generation in exile from their homes, farms and businesses.  They lived in a foreign land with a strange culture.  They had lost everything but their memories of joyous time past.  They were in an in-between time.  They experienced neither great joy nor intense agony.  But then, suddenly, they were allowed to go home and rebuild.  It came so suddenly it was like a dream.  They could hardly believe it.  God had actually intervened in national affairs with powerful kings.  God used the Persian Empire to free his people.  They were going home.

            As they journeyed back to Jerusalem, they with filled with laughter and joy.  People saw them and said that God had done great things for them.  They thanked God for all he had done. 

            As we look at our lives today we realize that we too have been blessed.  God has given us health and families and church and friends.  God had put us in a beautiful place with plenty to eat.

            But when Israelites arrived at Jerusalem and saw that it was nothing but a pile of rocks they realized that their fortunes had not yet been fully restored.  They realized that they had been freed from the hell of exile but had not yet arrived in heaven.  So they prayed.

           

⁴ Restore our fortunes, Lord,
    like streams in the Negev.
⁵ Those who sow with tears
    will reap with songs of joy.
⁶ Those who go out weeping,
    carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
    carrying sheaves with them.

            The people of God looked ahead to the daunting task of rebuilding their lives.  It seemed almost hopeless. They needed a miracle.   And then they remembered a miraculous time when God had sent rain on the southern desert.  The wadis filled with water.   The desert began to bloom.  Seeds sown with little expectation of growth in a dry land grew into an abundant harvest.  What they needed was another miracle like that.

            The Israelites were living in an in-between time.  They remembered the joyful blessings of the past and hoped for more joyful blessings in the future.  Most of us today live in an in-between time.  We have plenty of memories of past joys.  And we hope for future blessing.  But today is neither good nor bad.  We want to experience joy once again.

            I once talked with a young woman about her relationship with her boyfriend.  They had been very much in love and were planning to marry.  But one thing led to another and they decided to break up.  Now though, they are getting back together.   They have past memories of joy together and they are motivated by a hope of restored fortunes.  But today, they have lots of issues to deal with.

            I have met many people in physical therapy.  They are thankful to God for the healing that has occurred.  But they know there will be long period of pain and rehab until they can resume normal activities.  Joy is far from their hearts, but they are filled with hope of restored fortunes.

            I know many people who were hurt in 2008 with declining stock prices.  Some had to delay their expected retirement.  Today’s stock market volatility concerns them and there is some fear of another stock market drop.  They remember the joy of accumulating wealth, but now they are not so sure.  All they have is trust that God will restore their fortunes.

            I know of people who left church during a personal crisis.  For some their prayers went unanswered, and they blamed God for their suffering.  But now they feel good being back in church, but they still struggle with unanswered prayer.  They hope that God will restore their joyful faith.

            I know a young man who graduated from college.  He got a good job in his field.  But his company is downsizing because of poor sales.  He doesn’t know if he will still have a job in six months.  He remembers God’s blessing in his life, but now he must rely on hope that God will restore his fortunes.

            I know people who have lived a long and happy lives.  But now they find that growing old is not as easy as it looks.  They wonder how their lives will end, with a bang or a whimper.   They have rich memories of the faithfulness of God, and now they are filled with hope that God will restore their lives.

            We experience these in-between times most of our lives.  We remember God’s faithful blessings in the past.  Today we live normal lives with normal problems.  What we need is hope for God’s restoration in the future.

            This is what the Kingdom of God is like.  Jesus came and said that the Kingdom of God was near.  He demonstrated its presence with signs and wonders.  But the Kingdom has not fully arrived and we still experience the power of evil in our world.    The Kingdom of God is both already here and yet to come.  The church exists in this tension of already but not yet.  We live in an in-between time.  Jesus has already come.  Jesus will come again.  And so we remember the joy of Jesus’ birth, and now rely on hope that he will come again as he promised.  And so like the psalmist we remember:

Psalm 126:1 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
    we were like those who dreamed.
² Our mouths were filled with laughter,
    our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
    “The Lord has done great things for them.”
³ The Lord has done great things for us,
    and we are filled with joy.

And we pray.

⁴ Restore our fortunes, Lord,
    like streams in the Negev.
⁵ Those who sow with tears
    will reap with songs of joy.
⁶ Those who go out weeping,
    carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
    carrying sheaves with them.

            Restoring your fortunes requires changing the conditions that caused you to lose your joy.  So here is what you do.  Remember the blessings of your youth, the blessing of your family, the blessings of your career, and the blessings of your church.    And as you remember these blessings, be filled with hope in God, your refuge and strength.  Learn to trust in God’s faithfulness by seeking his face through worship, Bible study and prayer.  Know that God will protect you in the desert.  And God will let you experience happiness when you confess your sin.  Do these things and God will restore your fortunes and you will once again sing songs of joy.   Let’s pray.

            “Generous God, you have heard and answered our prayers and met our needs; and you have forgiven us our confessed sin; so we praise and thank you God for the way you respond to our prayers. We give thanks that you bless us every day with your mercy, and we rejoice that you have turned our tears of remorse into prayers and songs of praise and joy. What amazing things God has done for each of us, as we have been so blessed as members of a community of faith; and also as individuals who seek to love and serve our God. Praise be to God’s Holy Name. Amen.” 

(http://www.thetimelesspsalms.net/w_resources/pentecost22[30]b_2015.htm)

Sermon – Psalm 32 - Happiness

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

Sermon – Psalm 32 - Happiness

March 6, 2016

            When God created men and women he did everything he could to make us happy.  He put us in a garden where all of our needs were met.  He gave us animals to name and spouse to love.  God wanted us to be happy, but when sin came into the world, so too did guilt and shame.  And when sin causes us to experience guilt we are no longer happy.  Guilt is the enemy of happiness.  So as long as we experience guilt for what we have done, or what we have left undone, we will never experience happiness.

            The fifth century Bishop Augustine experienced this.  One of his earliest memories of sin was when, as a teenager, he stole some pears.  He felt guilty for doing this.  And this guilt stayed with him for years.  He also did many things he should not have done and experienced guilt for each.  Augustine found you just can’t be happy when you are experiencing guilt for the wrong you have done.  He tried to do many things to deal with this sense of guilt, but nothing worked until he found the answer in Psalm 32.  This psalm showed Augustine that there is only one way to be happy.  And it worked.  Augustine became a bishop and one of the most celebrated Christian writers of all time.  Psalm 32 was so important to his happiness that as Augustine approached the end of his life, he had it engraved on the wall facing his bed so that he could meditate on Psalm 32 continually until he breathed his last breath.

            What is it about Psalm 32 that is so important?  We will get to this, but first let’s pray.

            “Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

            We all experience guilt for the things we have done in our lives.  There are thing we are ashamed of.  There are things we wish we could do over.  And we carry around a sense of guilt with us all the time.  This guilt keeps us from experiencing the happiness God created us to enjoy.  But thankfully there is a way to experience happiness.  Let turn to Psalm 32.

Psalm 32: ¹ Happy is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. ² Happy is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit.

            Our only source of happiness is to be forgiven.  We receive forgiveness from God for our sin by his grace and his love.  But first, we must honestly confess our sin.  Sadly, this is missing in many churches today.  It used to be that churches talked honestly about the reality of sin and our need to confess.  Conviction of sin and prayers of confession were ordinarily included in most worship services.  In that way Christians could confront the reality of sin their lives and make an honest confession.  But today, many churches today fail to talk about sin.  They think that people will be happier focusing only on the love and grace of God.  Many of these churches do not have prayers of confession in their order of worship.  But without a confrontation of sin and a spoken prayer of confession, Christians will continue to experience guilt.  They find no happiness in these churches.  Unhappy people sit in the pews.  Unhappy people look somewhere other than church for happiness.

            Some think that coming to Ocean City would make them happy.  But there is no happiness in a three hour drive with restless kids in the back seat.  There is no happiness sitting on hot sandy beach watching waves come ashore.  There is no happiness walking up and down the boardwalk, eating crabs, or even getting arrested for DUI on the drive from Seacrets to your hotel.  I suspect that many people look forward to getting back to work after a long and tiring Ocean City vacation.  (This sermon won’t be reprinted by the chamber of commerce). 

            People try to find ways of alieving the guilt they experience.  They try to minimize the importance of sin.  They medicate themselves with alcohol.  They engage in risky sexual practices.  They make as much money can.   But none of these things can eliminate the guilt that prevents our happiness.   Others try to do things to get right with God.  The come to worship, attend Bible studies and pray.  They volunteer at the cold weather shelter or food pantry or breakfast for international students.  They think that this will make them happy.  But it doesn’t.  Nothing we do can make us happy. 

            I am going to do something I rarely do.  I am going to bring politics into the pulpit.   I am not going to endorse a candidate or tell you how to vote.  What I am going to do is comment on a faulty idea of God held by one of the candidates, and which I believe is held by most Americans. 

            “After (Donald Trump) said, “I am a Protestant, a Presbyterian, and I go to church and I love God and I love my church,” a reporter asked him if he has ever asked God for forgiveness. He answered, “I am not sure that I have. I just go on and try to do a better job from there. I don’t think so. If I think I do something wrong…, I just try to make it right. I don’t bring God into the picture.” (http://cep.calvinseminary.edu/sermon-starters/lent-4c/?type=the_lectionary_psalms)

            Donald Trump is just speaking what most people think.  Sin is not a big deal.  There is no need to confess to God.  Just try to do right and fix whatever you do wrong.  But this doesn’t lead to happiness.  The guilt for doing wrong just keeps growing.  Listen to how David described this.

³ When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. ⁴ For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.

            Experiencing guilt for your sins is like having a chronic debilitating disease.  It eats away at you day after day.  And there is nothing you can do about it, except:

⁵ Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.”  And you forgave the guilt of my sin.

            According to scripture the only source of your happiness is in confessing your sin to God and receiving his forgiveness.  Let’s hear how this is to done.

⁶ Therefore let all the faithful pray to you while you may be found; surely the rising of the mighty waters will not reach them.

            What we are to do, and we do in worship every week, is confess our sin, both corporately aloud and individually in silence.  Then, after we have confessed our sins we hear the wonderful words of forgiveness, an assurance of God’s pardon.  As a result of this act in worship we receive, by God’s love and grace, the gift of happiness.  We respond to this great gift by singing a song of praise, the Gloria Patri.  David responded to his forgiveness by saying this.

⁷ You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.

            Each week in worship we have the opportunity to confess all the sin in our lives.  We hear the promise of God that we are forgiven.  Then in the reading and proclamation of the Word of God we receive instruction about how we can now be happy.  Here is how David put it.

⁸ I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. ⁹ Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you.  ¹⁰ Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in him.

            And so filled with God’s love and gracious forgiveness our guilt is gone and we can experience happiness.  All we have to do to be happy is to come to church, honestly confess our sin, and hear the promise of pardon and instructions for happy living.  Do this and you will be happier than you could ever imagine.  Let’s pray.

            “Generous God, we gather together to share in our mutual experiences of personal and joint brokenness, failure and disappointment - as we know very well that we are guilty of sin. Even though this is a very unpopular concept these days, each of us are aware of the weight of personal and shared sin that presses down so heavily on us, and the knowledge that this sin separates us from our loving and merciful God.
            We each have a difficult lesson to learn, O God, and we need the encouragement and support of each other to give us the strength to throw away this heavy burden of sin. God of compassion and forgiveness, we ask that you help each of us in this struggle, so that we may once again know the joy of forgiveness, and the blessedness of being in a right relationship with our God.
            God of community and comfort, we give thanks for the love we have received this day, not only from within our community of faith, but especially from you, our God of hope and freedom. The weight of sin has been removed, and the joy and security that is ours cannot be under estimated – and we celebrate with thankful hearts and minds, the sense of shared release and liberty we are experiencing. Thanks be to our God. Amen.” (http://www.thetimelesspsalms.net/w_resources/lent1a_2011.htm)

            Brothers and sisters, our sins are forgiven.  The guilt we have been carrying is washed away.  Your relationship with God has been restored.  David tells us in verse 11:

  ¹¹ Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!

Let us stand and sing:  All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name #97

Sermon – Psalm 63 – Longing for God

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

Sermon – Psalm 63 – Longing for God

February 28, 2016

            Today we are continuing with our look at the Psalms of Lent.  We have followed Jesus into the wilderness.  So far we have been reminded that God is our refuge, our fortress, the person we can count on when all else fails.  Last week we saw that to build up our trust in God we need to worship every Sunday, pray and meditate on scripture every day, and attend Bible studies.  Through these practices of piety the Holy Spirit causes us to grow into the likeness of Jesus Christ.

            Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness where his trust in God was tested.  We don’t know what happened to Jesus in those 40 days.  All we know is that Jesus was with the Holy Spirit and had a conversation about Old Testament scripture with the Devil.  What else happened to him?  What would happen to a man in the desert for 40 days?  We will get to this, but first let’s pray.

            “Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

            I have been in the Judean desert.  This desert is a vast expanse of sand.  Think of our beach on a summer day in full sun with the temperature over 100 degrees.  Think of our beach stretching as far as the eye can see in all directions.  There is nothing to eat or drink.  And the sun is beating done on your neck.  I visited Judean desert in an air conditioned bus with plenty of bottled water.  Jesus had neither.  And he was there for 40 days!  What happened?

            Rabbi Tani Prero leads a Jewish wilderness camp named Camp Yaalozu.  He knows what it’s like to live in the Judean desert.  First there would be no water to drink.  There wouldn’t be enough food.  So a person would experience deep hunger and thirst.   He would miss his bed and sleep on a few branches if he could find them.  His skin would dry out from the relentless heat and lack of shade.  If someone brought him some food, the wild animals that roam the desert would steal it.  His body would begin to fail.  His mind would weaken, and he would begin to hallucinate.  He would see visions, mirages.[i]

            We don’t know if Jesus experienced these things in the desert.  He may have, but he never told us what happened.  We do have a firsthand account from a man who did spend some time in the desert.  He was an ancestor of Jesus and was named David.  Let’s listen to David’s account of hiding in this desert from King Saul who was trying to kill him about a 1000 years before Jesus.  We read in Psalm 63:

1a You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you;

            David is hiding in the Judean desert.  He has fled with his men as King Saul pursues him to kill him.  David is thirsty.  He has no water no water to drink.  His body is dehydrating.  He will die soon if he doesn’t find some water.  His skin is dry and brittle.  But notice that he doesn’t complain about the lack of water.  It’s not water that he longs for.  Rather, he longs for God.  He trusts that God will provide him with what he needs.  And he is confident that God will be his refuge and fortress.  Here is what David says.

1b I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.

            And so David, experiencing great thirst, longs not for water but for the only thing that can save him, God. 

            Several days have passed, and with still no water David begins to see visions.  He is hallucinating.  His body is deprived of food and water.  His imagination is growing.  And he sees a vision of God in his temple.  Here is what he sees.

² I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.

            After a few more days David begins to realize that he is dying.  No one can withstand that kind of heat without food and water.  He longs for God.  He has seen visions of God in his temple.  And now he experiences God’s great love for him.  Even in the midst of his suffering God’s love is shining.  And if God loves you your life has meaning.  There is no reason to despair in suffering, because you are a child of God.  Here is how David described it.

³ Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. ⁴ I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.

            David is in the wilderness with no food and water.  The sun beats down on him.  His body is dry and parched.  His life is coming to an end.  There is no guarantee the God will provide him with the necessities of life.  And that is when David begins to think about food.  He had never experienced hunger as he does right now.  And David then says a most surprising thing.

⁵ I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

            David’s body needs food and water to survive.  In the absence of both he will probably soon die.  But in this experience David is satisfied, not with the food and water he desperately needs, but with God, his creator, who remains with him and strengthens him.

            As the sun goes down, David experiences a little relief.  The cooler temperature feels good to his parched body.  The hot sand beneath his feat begins to cool.  And as he lies down to sleep he again begins to hallucinate.  He sees a vision of his own bed.  And he is next to it kneeling in prayer to God, a prayer that lasts the whole night long.  Here is what he says.

⁶ On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.

            When the sun rises the next morning David’s first thought is not about his own hunger and thirst.  He does not think about his own dry body or even his death which may be very close.  Rather his thoughts turn to God.  And as the sun rises high in the sky, with no shade for protection, David begins singing because even if there is no physical protection from the rays of the sun God is still with him.  Here is what David says”

⁷ Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.

            As the hot dry day continues David’s body begins to shut down.  The lack of water, the lack of food, the heat, the sun have all brought David almost to the point of death.  But even here David thinks about God.  God is with him.  God will protect him.  Listen to David’s confession.

⁸ I cling to you; your right hand upholds me.

            And with that we have seen David’s full transformation.  He is no longer concerned with his physical body.  His hunger and thirst are no longer important.  All he cares about is that God is with him.  David trusts God with his life.

            But the immediate threat to David was not lack of water.  King Saul was continuing to search for David in desert.   He and his men were getting close.  And so God spoke words of prophecy and comfort.  Here is what David heard.

9 Those who want to kill me will be destroyed; they will go down to the depths of the earth.
¹⁰ They will be given over to the sword and become food for jackals.

            At God’s command the Philistines attacked Israel.  Saul ended his pursuit of David to meet this threat.  And in the following battle Saul died, in fulfillment of the prophecy, making David the new king.  God had saved David’s life.  And David, in gratitude for this salvation promised this to his God:

¹¹ But the king will rejoice in God; all who swear by God will glory in him, while the mouths of liars will be silenced.

            And with that David is able to leave his hiding place in the desert.  He is ready to begin ruling as king.   His relationship with God is strong.  He knows that God saved him from certain death in the wilderness.

            Jesus also emerged from the wilderness after forty days.  Did he go through the same agony as his ancestor David?  I think he did.  I think he experience the relentless hot sun.  His body became burned and dry.  He experienced hunger and thirst.  He began hallucinating and seeing visions.  He saw God in the temple.  He imagined himself in his own bed.  And through this experience he developed his relationship with the Father.  The Father saved the Son’s life in the desert.  And Jesus knew that the Father would always be with him to strengthen him no matter what happens.

            This promise is for us as well.  No matter what happens to us we have a savior.  We can depend on God our refuge and fortress.  We develop this trust not by hiding in a desert but through worship, prayer and Bible study.  As we do these things the Holy Spirit fills us with confidence and trust which will sustain us throughout our lives. 

            So whatever wilderness you face, the wilderness of bad health, the wilderness of lack of resources, or the wilderness of loneliness remember that you have a savior.  You can trust God with your life, because Jesus knows all about the wilderness.  Let’s pray.

            “O God, you are our God; and we come to worship and thank you! Today, we come together to our sacred space, because within our souls, we have a deep longing and a craving thirst for God’s presence—so that we may personally know more clearly and truly experience God.  Our faith community has a yearning to learn about God in a new and intimate way, because we feel undernourished, as if we are starved of God’s presence. As individuals, and as a gathered people, we come; lifting our hands in praise to our God in anticipation of a blessing— and receiving from our God – the comforting warmth of words of grace. We yearn to follow God more closely, and to be guided by God’s hand.”  Amen. (http://www.thetimelesspsalms.net/w_resources/lent3c_2013.htm)

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[i] Sermon based on:  Tani Prero, Jewish Bible Quarterly: Psalms Chapter 63: David in The Wilderness,  (2014), vol. 42,3, pp244-246.