A Journey to God
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
The Christian life has often been compared to a journey. One of the reasons for that is because they Bible can often present the Christian life as a journey. The Psalms of Ascent bear that out as well as an other sections of Scripture.
Within the Psalms of Ascent, we have seen that the the road of Christ toward God is fraught with peril. There are enemies. There are distractions. There is our own weaknesses.
And yet, knowing how to walk with Christ is basic and simple. Psalm 131 shows us that. It is not profound. It is not difficult to understand. But it is exceedingly difficult to fulfill.
Spurgeon called this Psalm “One of the shortest to read, but one of the longest to learn.”
The simplicity of this Psalm will leave the academic bored. But the profundity of it will leave the follower of Christ challenged. As simple as these things are to understand, they are difficult—yeah, impossible—to obey.
In this Psalm, we are going to see three things about our attitude as it relates to our journey to God. The first one is negative—we must do away with it. The next two are positive—they are what we receive. We will look at:
Pride
Peace
Hope
The Problem of Pride (1)
The Problem of Pride (1)
Pride manifests itself in looking down on others (1a)
Pride manifests itself in looking down on others (1a)
Pride manifests itself in thinking too highly of oneself (1b)
Pride manifests itself in thinking too highly of oneself (1b)
Pride manifests itself in thinking too lowly of God (1c)
Pride manifests itself in thinking too lowly of God (1c)
The Psalmist equates pride with 1) our heart, 2) our eyes, and 3) our actions/hands.
Pride grows when we let our priorities get out of focus.
Pride is a misplaced focus of the Heart
Pride is a misplaced focus of the Heart
The Bible says that a proud heart was king Uzziah’s downfall:
But when he became strong, his heart was so proud that he acted corruptly, and he was unfaithful to the Lord his God, for he entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.
An uplifted heart was the downfall of Nebuchadnezzar
“But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit became so proud that he behaved arrogantly, he was deposed from his royal throne and his glory was taken away from him.
These two kings fell because of their pride. Yet Jeshoshaphat found his boast in the Lord
He took great pride in the ways of the Lord and again removed the high places and the Asherim from Judah.
Paul said that—if we understand salvation by Christ—we will only boast in the Lord.
It is from him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom from God for us—our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption —in order that, as it is written: Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.
The church at Ephesus was condemned in Revelation 2 because they had left their first love. They had began to love something more than Jesus Christ.
Pride is a misplaced focus of the eyes
Pride is a misplaced focus of the eyes
Remember that the one of the things that the Psalmist has emphasized throughout the Psalms of Ascent is that we are to “lift our eyes toward the hills,” or to lift our eyes toward God. Here, the Psalmist warns of lifting our eyes too high.
The problem that he is warning us about is not that we lift our eyes to see God. Rather, it is that we would lift our eyes in order to see ourselves.
There is a kind—oh how lofty are his eyes! And his eyelids are raised in arrogance.
Pride is misplaced thoughts of the mind
Pride is misplaced thoughts of the mind
Nor do I involve myself in great matters or in things too difficult for me.
I had a conversation this past week with a man at the gym. He is a very intelligent person, but his language is very rough. We have had some conversations throughout our time. Finally, he asked me what I did. I told him. He was intrigued.
He has great respect for Christianity, but does not consider himself a Christian. He likes the morality of Christianity, but cannot get over the fact that One man would die for the whole world. Much less the Son of God.
You see, what was getting in the way of his coming to Christ is the pride of his mind.
We must remember that there are things about God that we cannot understand. He has given us all of the revelation that we need for salvation. But He has not given us all of the revelation we want.
“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.
Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I stand up; you understand my thoughts from far away. You observe my travels and my rest; you are aware of all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue, you know all about it, Lord. You have encircled me; you have placed your hand on me. This wondrous knowledge is beyond me. It is lofty; I am unable to reach it.
Pride is the great destroyer of peace. If you are living with
an uplifted heart
self-focused eyes or
a haughty mind
you will not have peace. Indeed, you cannot have peace. You have exalted yourself above God. And apart from God, there is no peace.
True Peace is found only in the presence of God. Look at verse 2:
The Peace of Resting (2)
The Peace of Resting (2)
The Psalms are wonderfully poetic. They make the most difficult of practices seem possible through analogy.
Here, the Psalmist gives us a picture of what it looks like to find our rest in God. It is like a child who has been weaned finding comfort in the arms of his or her mother. They are not clamoring to nurse. They are simply content to be near the one who has cared for them.
The weaned child lies in her mothers arms and clamors for the breast. But the child who has been weaned lies in her mothers arms and finds contentment.
That is the way it is for us to rest in God. We are not clamoring for more. We are content to be near the One who has given us life. Who has sustained our life. Who has cared for us.
The Psalmist says that he has composed/stilled and quieted his soul. David discovered that peace is found as we rest in God’s presence.
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
I am at rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.
Jesus invites us to:
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
But peace with God begins with salvation:
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
If you are searching for peace today, let me encourage you to give your life to Jesus Christ. He doesn’t take away all of the problems. But He gives you a peace that is known in spite of the problems.
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Live with Hope (3)
Live with Hope (3)
Where there is no hope, there is no peace.
This reminds us of what we looked at last week:
O Israel, hope in the Lord; For with the Lord there is lovingkindness, And with Him is abundant redemption.
We can have hope because we know the promises of God. We see this clearly throughout the Psalms of Ascent:
The Lord will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in From this time forth and forever.
As the mountains surround Jerusalem, So the Lord surrounds His people From this time forth and forever.
The Community: Notice that hope cannot be separated from the company of God’s people. The Psalmist address Israel: O Israel, hope in the Lord…
A Lifestyle: From this time forth and forevermore.
A Choice: Notice that hope is a choice. Israel is to choose hope. They are to reject hopelessness and embrace hope. Maybe you just need to quit waiting on hope and choose to live in hope. Say “doubts, you can leave now. You will NOT destroy my hope!”
A Christian will part with anything rather than his hope; he knows that hope will keep the heart both from aching and breaking, from fainting and sinking; he knows that hope is a beam of God, a spark of glory, and that nothing shall extinguish it till the soul be filled with glory.
– Thomas Brooks –
Conclusion
Where are you on your journey toward God? How you doing?
Are you living in fellowship with Him on a daily basis? Spending time in prayer. Reading His Word. Seeking His guidance. Trusting Him.
Or are you faltering? Failing? Getting weary? Say with the Psalmist:
Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.
Or maybe you know someone whose hope is beginning to fail them. They need for someone to come alongside of them and to encourage them. To build them up. Will you let someone else lean on you?
Ultimately, when we come to the Cross, we find these three things:
Our pride is put to death. We see how desperately we are in need of God to give us grace unto salvation.
Our peace is restored. We see that our greatest need is that we need to be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ.
Our hope is renewed. We find that in this world we will have trouble, but we can hope in God.