Sermon Tone Analysis
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The Promised Priest-King of Zion (and His Victory over Evil)
Intro: An Alternate Reality
The Western post-modern world has changed
the way we think about reality in significant
and fundamental ways.
Think about this.
For most of human history, people have been convinced.
Like really convinced,
that there was more going on in the world
than just the natural order of things.
More than just what they could touch, feel or see.
In the Ancient World, every civilization had
gods or supernatural forces that were to 'real’.
And the people in these civilizations genuinely believed
that things happened in life were because of these gods.
Bad weather, sickness, earthquakes, the birth of children,
victory in battle and so on.
Pretty much everything was as because of some supernatural being.
A few hundred years after Jesus,
Christianity became the primary religion of Western civilisation.
Many gods gone.
Now just one God.
However, while the number of gods worshiped may have changed.
The acceptance of a supernatural reality didn’t change.
People genuinely and instinctively accepted
that there was more to their world than what
they could touch, feel and see.
God, and His forces of good, angels and His Holy Spirit
were real and active.
Evil, led by Satan and his minions was a fact of life.
There was a worldview that embraced and accepted
the idea of a reality that included a supernatural.
But this began to change.
A revolution took place.
A scientific, philosophical and pyschological revolution.
This revolution was fueled by a desire to understand better
the natural world.
It brought with it tools and instruments,
thoughts and ideas that radically changed how we lived but also,
how we in the West thought about reality.
It was a worldview revolution.
The idea of supernatural good and evil was a big problem for this
Scientific revolution because you can’t test it.
You can’t prove it with instruments.
You can’t make a tool or an experiment to understand it.
So, the question began to be asked.
If you can’t prove it, maybe it actually isn’t real.
If you can’t touch it, feel it or see it.
Then maybe it isn’t real at all.
This idea began to take hold.
So powerful was this idea that it
changed the way we think about reality.
Reality for us is no longer about gods or God,
or about cosmic forces of good and evil.
But what we can touch and feel.
Test and prove.
And everything else is to be viewed with strong skepticism.
This is the worldview we have grown up with here in the West.
And it’s so pervasive and powerful that when we encounter anything
that smells a little like supernaturalism, we get a bit funny.
But it’s interesting.
Despite this revolution,
We are really drawn toward portrayals of reality that are supernatural.
Here is a list of the most successful movie franchises of all time.
SLIDE
What do you notice?
With the exception of Fast and the Furious and James Bond,
there’s a fantasy or supernatural trend there right?
And more than that, because behind most of these franchises
is an over-arching story of a battle between good and evil.
We are drawn to these stories of a supernatural world
caught in the struggle between good and evil.
Why is that I wonder?
Perhaps it is just a desire for a meaningful existence as modern
psychology would suggest.
Or maybe, there is more to reality than what we can measure.
And this is where we come to the Bible and our Psalm
for this arvo/tonight.
As we walk into the world of this Psalm we are going to be confronted
with a very different perspective of reality.
A reality that is defined by a greater story of good and evil
than the Lord of the Rings and a greater leader than Optimus Prime.
As we engage with this different perspective,
can I encourage you to remember the cultural baggage we carry from
our Western revolution.
Because in Psalm 110 we are going to encounter a reality
that is bigger than what we can touch, feel, see or measure.
But this doesn’t mean it isn’t real.
I’m going to pray and then we will look at this Psalm together.
Heavenly Father.
You are the God who is beyond measure.
Lord, help us to know the truth today.
Help us to understand Psalm 110 and to know what it means for us today.
Amen.
Come to Psalm 110 and lets look at it together.
A Promise
David, the author of this Psalm, sees something.
The LORD says to my lord:
“Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies
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