Pittsgrove Presbyterian Church
Sermon Psalm 80 – Make Your Face Shine on Us
August 18, 2019
At some point in our lives, we will need a savior. Our problems will get out of hand. We won't be able to solve them. We will look to others for help but it won't be enough. And then we need a savior when there is no one else to turn to.
The list of problems we face as a church is endless and growing. We have problems with ankles, knees, hips, and shoulders. We suffer from chronic pain, birth defects, and incurable diseases. We have friends and family with terminal diseases. We have floods, and droughts, and hurricanes that cause damage. We worry about our church, membership, and finances. And are getting older every day. Sometimes we can solve our own problems. Sometimes we can solve our problems with the help of others. And sometimes we need a savior. Thankfully we have a savior, Jesus Christ. 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)
In the 8th century before Christ, the people of God were divided into two nations. The southern kingdom was called Judah. Its capital was Jerusalem. And in Jerusalem, there was a temple for the worship of Yahweh, the Lord God of Israel. The northern kingdom was called Israel. Its capital was Samaria. The people of the northern kingdom worshiped golden calves erected by the king at religious shrines in Bethel and Dam. Israel had abandoned the worship of their God, Yahweh, and worshiped other pagan gods.
The northern kingdom, Israel, needed a savior. The Assyrian army arrived and encircled the capital. They were threatening to destroy the nation. Israel could not save itself. And there were no neighbors powerful enough to save them either. The gods they worshiped were completely ineffective. They needed someone to come and save them. They needed a savior, but who?
Then they remembered the God they had worshiped generations before. A God who had saved them in similar circumstances. Unfortunately, they had abandoned this God years ago. But, maybe, he would remember his people. Perhaps this God could be persuaded to help them again. So a group was assembled to travel south to Jerusalem to ask Yahweh, the Lord God of Israel, for help.
When they arrived in Jerusalem, they made their way to temple to plead their case with God. It was believed that God resided in the temple in a room called the Holy of Holies. God's throne was a box, the arc of the covenant which the people of God had carried in the wilderness for 40 years. Inside was the Law of Moses. God sat on top of the box between the cherubim. The group from the northern kingdom evidently entered the Holy of Holies to ask God for help. This is what they said.
Psalm 80:1 NRSV Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock! You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth 2 before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh. Stir up your might, and come to save us! 3 Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved.
After generations of unfaithfulness, the people of the northern kingdom have finally returned to the God of their ancestors. And they ask him for his presence with them as they face the Assyrian enemy.
We have this same hope for a savior. We know that our God does not prevent problems from happening. We have too many problems to believe that. Rather than prevent problems our God promises to be with us as we face our problems. The benefit of your faith is that whatever problem you face God will be there with you. His face will shine upon you. You have a savior who will come to your aid. All you have to do is to call on him in prayer.
Then the people from Israel presented to God the prayers of their people. Let's listen.
Psalm 80: 4-7 4 O Lord God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers? 5 You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in full measure. 6 You make us the scorn[a] of our neighbors; our enemies laugh among themselves. 7 Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.
They offered up prayers to God asking that God remember that the people of the northern kingdom were still his people. They told God that his people were suffering. And therefore God's reputation would suffer when others saw the suffering of his people. God needed to come to save them to demonstrate his power to the world. Otherwise, the Assyrians will defeat them and mock their God. And so they asked God to save his people and to remember what he has done for them in the past.
Psalm 80:8-14a 8 You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. 9 You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land. 10 The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches; 11 it sent out its branches to the sea, and its shoots to the River. 12 Why then have you broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit? 13 The boar from the forest ravages it, and all that move in the field feed on it. 14 Turn again, O God of hosts; look down from heaven, and see;
They reminded God that he had saved his people from slavery in Egypt and had promised them the land they now occupy. But now that very land that God had promised to them is occupied by non-believers. The Assyrians now live in their cities and farm their farms. So the nation's religious leaders pleaded with God to uphold his end of the covenant. They begged God for his help.
Psalm 80 14c-19 have regard for this vine, 15 the stock that your right hand planted.[b] 16 They have burned it with fire, they have cut it down;[c] may they perish at the rebuke of your countenance. 17 But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand, the one whom you made strong for yourself. 18 Then we will never turn back from you; give us life, and we will call on your name. 19 Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.
And so they are waiting for a savior: God's son, who sits at God's right hand and comes to earth as the Son of Man. The savior is the same as our savior, Jesus Christ.
Sadly, God ignored their plea and allowed the Assyrians to conquer the northern kingdom and resettle the people of Israel in other parts of their empire. God ignored their prayer. Why were their prayers ignored? I think I know why.
Nowhere in Psalm 80 is there a prayer of confession. At no time in their prayers to God did they admit that they had done wrong by worshiping other gods at the shrines of the golden calves in Bethel and Dan. And they made no promise to stop these evil ways and return to their God. All they did was to make demands on God and complain that he was not protecting them well enough. And God responded by ignoring them. God wants a confession, a change of heart, and a return of his people to obedience and he didn't get it.
So, if we want a savior to come when we need a savior we must confess our sin and change our behavior from evil to good. If we confess and repent and turn to God, then God will forgive us and send us a much-needed savior.
And who is this savior that we wait for?. When the priests of Israel entered into the Holy they cried out “Restore us, Lord God Almighty; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.”, they were using a Hebrew world “leshua.”, which means save us. The name of the Lord God of Israel was, “jah”, which was shortened from Yahweh. So they put these together, “Jah shua”. They cried out “God save us, Jah shua. When this Hebrew word, Jah shua came into Latin became “Iesus”. And the Latin Iesus came into Early Middle English as “Jesus”. So the English name “Jesus” is the same as the Hebrew jah shua, God saves. So who is the savior that we are waiting for? Who is this Son of Man who sits at the right hand of God? Who is this anointed one who comes to earth? His name is Jah shua, Iesus, or Jesus. Jesus Christ is the savior who is coming. Let's pray.
Father in heaven we confess that we have not always followed you. We have not always obeyed your commandments and followed your will. We are sorry and promise to do better. We ask Lord that our savior, Jesus Christ, shine his face upon us, be with us in our troubles, and save us. This we pray in Jesus’ glorious name. Amen.
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