SERMON: GOLDEN CALVES AND OTHER IDOLS

 

Naylor Community Christian Church

Naylor, Georgia

 

I.  Introduction

            -- turn in Bibles to Exodus 20:1-6

 

Exodus 20:1 And God spoke all these words:

 

2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

 

3 “You shall have no other gods before me.

 

4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

 

            -- in the heyday of game show television, there was a show called “To Tell the Truth” – I’m not sure how many of you remember this, but the premise of the show was that a real life person with a famous story would appear on the show alongside two other people who were imposters -- people pretending to be the real thing

            -- the affidavit of the real person would be read out – and then a group of panelists would ask the three people questions to find out who was real and who were the fakes

            -- for instance, in one of the more famous episodes, the notorious Frank William Abegnale – who the movie, “Catch Me If You Can,” was based on – appeared on the show in 1977

            -- three men walked out from behind stage and each of them said, “I am Frank William Abegnale” – one was dressed as a doctor – one as an airline pilot – and the last as a prisoner -- the host, Joe Gargiola, read Abegnale’s affidavit:

 

“I, Frank William Abegnale, am known as the world’s greatest imposter – In the course of my nefarious career, I’ve pawned myself off as a doctor, lawyer, college instructor, stock broker, and airline pilot – to become an airline pilot, I merely bought a rubber ID card for $5, affixed an airplane logo from a model plane hobby kit, and in no time at all, was copilot for a major airline – as a bogus lawyer, I actually worked on a state attorney general’s staff – for two years, I also cashed over $2,500,000 in bad checks in 26 countries – ultimately, I was sentenced to 72 years in prison – I served one year in France – one year in Sweden – I then served four years in a federal prison in this country –paroled, I now devote my life to prevention and detection of crime”

 

            -- the men took their place and answered the questions from the panelists, who were trying to determine which man was the real Abegnale and which ones were not – one of the rules was that the real person could not lie, but the others did as they impersonated the real person

            -- in this episode, not a single one of the four members of the panel were able to determine which one of the three was the real Frank William Abegnale – and so, the imposters won the game

 

            -- now, of course this show would never work today – in this world where people share every aspect of their lives online and nothing is truly private, there is no way someone could appear on stage and the world not know who they were – it would be obvious who the real person was – or maybe not

            -- I’ve been thinking a lot about idols lately – those false gods who pretend to be the real God – those false images that a lot of people worship without even knowing – even when the real God stands up and says, “I am God. Worship Me!” – some people still worship an imitation

 

II.  Idol Worship Today

            -- look at the first commandment that God gave the Israelites– Exodus 20:1-3

 

Exodus 20:1 And God spoke all these words:

 

2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

 

3 “You shall have no other gods before me.

 

 

            -- and God reiterates the importance of that command with the Second Commandment – verse 4

 

Exodus 20:4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5a You shall not bow down to them or worship them

 

            -- what God is talking about here is exactly what I was referring to – God says that there are a lot of false gods out there in the world – even today – and we are not to worship them – to have them before Him – to afford them higher value and worth than God – to worship them in place of Him

 

            -- a lot of times, when we think about these two commandments, we join them together – we say that God commands us not to worship idols – and that is true – but when we think of the term “idol,” what we actually think of are the graven images that God refers to in the Second Commandment when He says, “you shall not make for yourself an image”

 

            -- that was the big controversy in the news last week – unless you totally stayed off social media and didn’t look at any news at all, you probably are aware that a 22-foot tall golden statue of Trump was put up at his golf course in Florida – and a group of pastors led a prayer service in front of the statue as they dedicated the statue

            -- when this happened, there was an immediate outcry from the religious community saying that these pastors had put up a golden statue of Trump as a graven image and were worshiping the statue

– A lot of religious people said that what happened in Florida was no different from what happened when the Israelites had Aaron make a golden calf for them to worship while Moses was up on Mount Sinai – they said that it was heresy and the worship of a false god

-- now, the pastor who was in charge of the ceremony defended the group’s actions and said that they weren’t worshiping Trump – that the statue of Trump was just a “symbol of resilience, patriotism, and courage” and that it was created and “done from love” – that the statue was meant to be a symbol of the “hand of God over President Trump's life” and a “thank-you” to God for preserving the president’s life in multiple assassination attempts.

– he went on to say, "Let me be very clear. We worship the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone” – he defended his actions by saying that their prayers before the statue of Trump were not the worship of Trump

-- but still, the optics were not good – when you see a group of pastors and Christians bowing their heads before a golden statue and praying, it sends the wrong message – it looks like you’re worshiping a golden image, whether that’s accurate or not -- as Skye Jethani said, “your allegiance is revealed by your behavior and your rhetoric” – if you have to immediately defend what you did by saying, “This is not a golden calf that we’re worshiping,” it should be an indication that you’ve crossed a line – whether you meant to or not

–This event really calls to mind what God warned against and commanded against in the First and Second Commandments here in Exodus 20

 

            -- we all understand the problem with the worship of graven images – like the golden calf from Exodus that Aaron made for the Israelites

            -- I do want to point out something about that, though – technically, the Israelites said they were not worshiping a false god -- if you look at what Aaron says about the golden calf in Exodus 32:4 -- when he gets done making the calf and putting it up on an altar before the people -- he points at it and tells them, “This is your God, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt” – they justified their actions by saying had made an image of the true God in the form of a golden calf

            -- Aaron was telling the people that the calf was Yahweh – the Lord God Almighty – and he said the statue was just a symbol – a representation of God – and that the people were still worshiping God – just doing so with the calf before them as an image to focus their worship

            -- but even though they told themselves they were worshiping the real God, they were still very much guilty of idolatry because they had made a graven image and were worshiping it

 

            -- [hold up Jesus figure] have y’all seen these things? – these little rubber figures of Jesus that are popping up everywhere? – on cruises, people have started a game where they hide little rubber duck figures all over the ship, and people hunt for them during the cruise – well, they’ve started hiding these figures of Jesus, too – and I found one on the cruise and brought it back and gave it to Kim

            -- and I know a guy in town that buys these things in bulk, and he passes them out to people so they can carry Jesus with them wherever they go -- and I know I gave one to Kim – but I sort of have a problem with these – because you can take them to be a graven image – which is a violation of God’s law

            -- Jesus says that He is with us always – that He will never leave us or forsake us – and that we have His very presence in us in the person of the Holy Spirit – but when you give someone one of these little figures and then tell them, “Now you can take Jesus with you wherever you go,” – you’ve kind of made an idol that you’re worshiping – you’re substituting the real thing for a graven image – in this case, a little rubber figure

            -- I’ve still got it here, obviously – partially, because I didn’t really know what to do with it – it just seems wrong to just throw it away – that would be like throwing away Jesus, you know? – but if you think like that – if you think that throwing this piece of rubber away is the same as throwing Jesus away – you might have crossed a line, just like Aaron and the Israelites did with the golden calf – and I’m aware of that – it concerns me

 

            -- but what concerns me more than these graven images are the idols that God commands us not to worship in the First Commandment – God makes it pretty clear here in verse 3 – “You shall have no other gods before Me”

            -- and I want you to catch something here – the gods that He is referring to in verse 3 – in the First Commandment – are not the graven images He forbids in the Second Commandment – in verses 4 to 6

            -- this is where I said we kind of join these two commandments together – because we assume that to worship another god before Him means that we have an idol in our life – and just like I pointed out – when we think of idols, we think of things – graven images – statues – pictures – little Jesus figures – things we can hold in our hands and move around – things that we can see and touch -- that are created and fashioned by people as symbols or representations of God or foreign gods, such as Buddha

            -- but that is not what God is talking about in the First Commandment – that is the Second Commandment

            -- so, what is the concern of the First Commandment? – when God says to have no other god before Him, what is He talking about?

 

            -- here’s where we start to understand my reference to the game show, “To Tell the Truth” – so, to remind you of what I said, in that show, there were three people who came out before the panel – one was the real person – the other two were imitations – they were pretending to be the real person – and a lot of the times, they fooled the panelist

            -- we have a problem, as humans, in making false gods by creating imitations of the Lord God Almighty in our heads and in our hearts – not making a graven image of anything, like the Second Commandment forbids – but we have a false god of our own making that we worship in place of the real God – and this tendency – this natural bent that we all have and that God warns us about here – worries me a lot – because I see this in our world today – I see this in my own life – and it’s something we need to be aware of and guard against

            -- so, when we are talking about idols, there are two types – first, there is the common understanding of an idol – a graven image – a golden calf – a little Jesus figurine -- or a golden statue of anything that you worship – even if you say you’re worshiping God and this is just a symbol that helps you focus your worship – that’s an idol – and God says don’t do this in the Second Commandment – so, graven images are the first type of idol

            -- the second type of idol is the god that we create in our minds and our hearts in place of the real God – the invisible god that we think about and pray to and worship instead of the God of the Bible

            -- when we make a god like this – the god we think of – the god we see in our minds – the god we envision with the eyes of our hearts – this becomes the image of what we think god looks like and sounds like and does – we have substituted a false god for Yahweh – and this is a big problem

 

-- idols distort our concept of God -- when we make an idol of God, we are substituting the real God for something less – we are replacing God with something that we have created ourselves

-- that’s why the first two commandments are so important – they tell us how we are to relate to our maker – God begins this passage by reminding us of who He is – of proclaiming His name and His presence before us – look at verse 1

 

Exodus 20:1 And God spoke all these words:

 

2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

 

-- then, He tells us that we are to worship Him only -- to not put any other god before Him -- we are told to worship Him as He truly is -- the transcendental, all mighty God, omniscient, omnipresent, and all powerful -- NOT an image or representation of who we think He is or how we conceive Him to be

-- when we do that, we are literally creating God in our own image – and when we worship this idol that we have created -- whether that is by making a graven image, a physical statue, a picture we look at, or whether we simply hold an incorrect vision of Him in our minds -- we have ceased to worship the true God of the Bible – we are worshiping a false god

           

-- why do we do that? -- short answer – we do it for two reasons -- self-imaging and control

– first, when we create an idol – whether physical or invisible – we are creating a god that we can relate to on own terms – a god that meets our needs – a god that understands us and sympathizes with our situations – we start worshiping a god who is exactly what we thought he should be – how he should look and act and think – we become the creator of a god that we desire because he likes the things that we like – he loves the people and things we love – and he hates the people and things we hate – our idols looks and thinks and behaves just like us

-- the second reason we create idols is for control – idols allow us to control our god – idols allow us to shift our likes and desires – our wants and needs – onto our god

– because god looks like we want him to look and does what we want him to do – we control him -– all we have to do is say the right words or make the right sacrifices and god has no choice but to grant our petitions – in idolatry, God serves us

-- that’s why people want idols – that’s why we have this tendency in our hearts to create idols in our own lives – it’s because it’s easy – and it really puts us in charge

            -- but that is not the way of God – that is not the way of the Lord God Almighty

 

-- God knew that our tendency as humans, when confronted with things that we can't understand or that are too big for us to grasp, is to boil it down to its simplest element -- to make a representation of it, so that we could understand it

-- that’s why we try to pigeon-hole God – to put God in a box – and say, “This is what our God looks like – this is what He does – everything about God is right here in this box and He never does anything outside of the confines of this man-made box”

-- when we do that with God, we are limiting Him -- it results in us not giving Him the full glory due Him -- it causes us to see Him as less than He really is

-- that is the reason God gave us these commandments to follow – we are not to create idols or images of God because to do so is to make a lesser version of Him – we are to only worship the Lord God Almighty as He is revealed to us in His word – not as we think He should be

-- I think John Wesley summed it up best when he wrote, "Our religious worship must be governed by the power of faith, not by the power of imagination." 

           

-- as J. Ligon Duncan pointed out, [in these first two commandments] “God is saying, "When you think about Me, you have to think about Me in accordance with the word. Images distort Me, representations distort Me. Your imaginations distort Me. So, if you want to know Me, you have to know Me by My word."

-- that is why the Bible tells us that Jesus is the Word of God – God made flesh – if you want to know what God looks like and what God says and what God does, look at Jesus

-- we are not called to worship a lesser god of our own making – we are called to worship and serve the God of the Bible – the Lord our God – the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – Yahweh – our Creator God – the one and only God

 

III.  Imaginary Gods

-- I’m not worried about you going home and making a golden calf in your backyard today – I don’t think the big concerns in the church today is people making graven images or physical idols that they bow down to and worship – although, the events of this past week make me wonder

-- no, the real danger to us is in creating a lesser god in our minds that we put before the real God – by following a false, substitute god that we have created with our own imaginations

 

-- a few years ago, I was speaking to a friend of mine who has been led astray by some false teachings in regards to salvation and universalism – as I was reminding him of what the church has always taught in regards to salvation and eternal punishment for rejecting Christ – of what the Bible says about this -- he responded by saying, “My God is a God of love – My God would never send someone to Hell forever”

-- I’ve had other people tell me something similar – “I believe in a God who loves everyone – I don’t believe in a God of wrath or judgment”

 

-- have you ever heard anybody say anything similar? – are you hearing what they’re saying? – are you realizing what they’ve done?

-- they have created in their mind an idol – a false god – someone who looks just like them and who acts just like them and who agrees with them on every issue of the day

-- I see that a lot right now – in our churches – in politics – in our culture – it’s everywhere – people are worshiping man-made gods and not the God of the Bible

 

-- I read a book called “Imaginary Jesus,” by Matt Mikalotos – it’s a fiction book, but it makes a great point – the main character likes Jesus a lot – in fact, he couldn’t believe how much they had in common -- They shared the same likes, dislikes, beliefs, and opinions – in the book, he sees Jesus as a real person that he shares time with at restaurants and in life

-- but then he finds out that the guy he knows as Jesus . . . isn’t really Jesus – just like the two imitators on the game show, “To Tell the Truth,” the Jesus that the main character has been hanging out with is an Imaginary Jesus -- a comfortable, convenient imitation that he has created in his own image – and he realizes that the real Jesus is still out there somewhere . . . and he needs to find him

-- throughout the book, the main character keeps running across Jesus’s everywhere he goes – but after a few moments, he realizes they, too, are imaginary – so, the whole book is about the main character getting rid of the imaginary Jesus’s in his life so that he can find the real Jesus the Bible tells us about

-- this is what I’m talking about – this is what is going on in our country and in our churches today – we’re following imaginary Jesus’s – false gods – idols – rather than the true Jesus of the Bible

 

-- think for a moment about the rhetoric that is coming from both sides of the political aisle in America right now – all of us know that we are as divided as a country can get – we have the right on one side and the left on the other and both of them think the other is evil and the enemy

-- but here’s the kicker – both sides have created their own image of God – both sides have made God into an idol – and, so, each side believes their God approves of only them – that their God is pleased with what they are doing and with their chosen leaders – and that He disapproves of everything the other side is doing -- and this is true whether we’re talking about the right or the left

-- what they have done is created a god in their own image – someone who looks just like them and acts just like them and is pleased with them – and neither side is worshiping or giving allegiance to the real God of the Bible that we see here in Exodus 20

-- and that’s exactly what God was warning us against and commanded us not to do in these first two commandments

 

            -- think about it like this -- our vehicles today have warning lights on them to let us know when something is wrong – if you’re driving along and the oil light starts flashing red, it lets you know something’s wrong with the oil

            -- here’s the warning light for idolatry – when someone says – when we say – “My God thinks like this” or “I believe in a God who…” – that’s a warning sign that you may be forming an idol of God in your mind

            -- rather than knowing God and seeing what His word says about something, you’ve instead created a God that thinks exactly like you on this given subject

            -- when we are worshiping the true God of the Bible, then it’s not “I believe in a God who” – it becomes, “God tells us in His word” or “As the Bible says here, God is like this or has commanded this”

-- so, even though we may not have graven images in our homes and in this church, we are still in danger of creating idols in our minds and our hearts

– that is why it is so important for us to know God’s word and to know Him through His word so that we aren’t making Him in our own image, but we are letting Him make us in His image and His likeness

 

IV.  Closing

            -- let me close by sharing with you something that has become a pet peeve of mine – not a single week goes by that I don’t see someone on social media asking the question, “What is a good church to go to?”

            -- and that’s not a problem, in and of itself – I think everyone needs to be in a good church – to be part of the church -- the problem I have with it is that most people don’t stop there

            -- they ask, “What’s a good church to go to?” – but then they say, “I want a church that…” – and then they go on to list the things that they want – it must have a young crowd – it must be an older crowd -- it must have children’s programs – it has to be large, but not too large – it has to have good worship music – it has to have a preacher that preaches from the Word – it must be diverse – it must be non-denominational – must have classes for young and older children – the list just goes on and on and on

            --  I see posts like this every single week – and here’s my issue – these folks aren’t looking for a church – they aren’t looking for Jesus – they’re looking for an idol that meets their wants and their wishes and their desires – they want a place and they want a god that thinks like them and talks like them and looks like them and affirms everything that they are doing and saying – and that gives them everything they want

            -- that is idolatry – that is the problem we have in America today

 

            -- we’re not looking for God – we’re looking for a god that checks all our boxes – and when we do that, we are creating an idol in our life

            -- we need to be on guard against that – because creating an idol causes us to worship a lesser god in our minds – and leads us to limit God in our lives and our prayers because we have made Him out to be something that He is not

– that was the primary concern God had with the Israelites -- even though they did frequently go into straight-up idol worship by adopting pagan gods and worshiping them from time to time in place of Yahweh – His biggest concern was the Israelites not worshiping Him for who He truly was

            -- God is the only One who is to be exalted – the Lord God Almighty is the only God, and there are none before Him – and so we are not to create idols of Him or anything else – to not let anything else replace Him in our lives – but to worship and serve only Him

 

            -- so, as we close this morning – I promise I’m getting there -- I want you to take a moment and think about Jesus – Jesus was killed because He didn’t fit the image that the Jewish leaders and priests thought of the Messiah – Jesus didn’t look and sound and act like the Messiah they wanted – the Messiah they envisioned in their heads

– they didn’t want a Messiah who said that we should love everybody, even our enemies – they didn’t want a Messieah that said we should put people above tradition or church law, especially if that meant healing on the Sabbath -- they didn’t want a Messiah that advocated peace and love to all, especially if that meant the Romans

            -- Jesus wasn’t the Messiah they wanted because He didn’t fit their boxes – they were looking for an idol that they had created and that they wanted, but God showed up instead

 

-- so, as we join in prayer, think for a moment about the God you worship in your life – if your God looks and sounds and behaves just like you or like the political party you follow or like the culture you prefer – then let that be a caution light to you that you may have allowed yourself to follow an idol rather than the God of the Bible

-- make sure you’re following God and that you’re only worshiping God and not an idol that you have created – for that is a danger to all of us

-- let’s pray

 

 

 

SERMON: QUIETLY BLOOMING

 

Naylor Community Christian Church

Naylor, Georgia

 

I.  Introduction

            -- turn in Bibles to 2 Timothy 1:1-5

 

2 Timothy 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, in keeping with the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,

 

2 To Timothy, my dear son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

3 I thank God, whom I serve, as my ancestors did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. 4 Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. 5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.

 

            -- on Wednesday of this past week, I had a little time to get some things done – we had cancelled Bible study because Kim was having chemo and wouldn’t be home until late – so, I took advantage of the moment to try to catch up on some yard work that I had neglected

            -- when we moved into the trailer following the hurricane, we had nothing but bare ground around our home – before, our house had been completely surrounded by trees – and our yard was covered mostly in leaves – but now, with no trees and direct sunlight, we knew we had to do something to put groundcover in place around our home

            -- neither of us really wanted grass, so we had this plan to establish a landscape of native vegetation, with lots of native wildflowers – but that’s easier said than done – we scarified the ground – we put out seed – we covered it and watered and fertilized it – but nothing came up

            -- and then when the rains started, the bare ground began eroding – so, I knew something had to be done – I went out and got a grass seed mixture and put it out – I thought it would be a temporary measure until we could get the native vegetation going – but the grass spread out and covered the front of the house – and now I find myself having to mow my yard for the first time in 28 years

            -- well, I was out there Wednesday doing just that, when I noticed something – a little stem with bright red flowers was poking its head up above the grass – if you look at the picture on our Facebook page announcing today’s message, you can see the picture of it

            -- I mowed around the flower – there was no way I was going to mow it down – but it got me thinking – about life and about faith and about a life well lived

            -- in the middle of a sea of grass, this one lone red flower stood up and proudly bloomed where it was planted – it was doing what it was called to do – it was becoming what it was created to be

            -- it didn’t matter what was going on around it – it didn’t matter that it was the only red flower blooming in our yard – it was created by God and planted in this location and it had a job to do – and there it stood – faithfully blooming beautifully, as it was intended to do

 

            -- our chaplain at work this week sent out a message that spoke to this – in it he wrote, and I’m quoting here:

 

Maybe the most important thing is this:

to continue doing what is right,

to faithfully live out our calling,

and to keep becoming the person we are meant to be

even when nobody notices.

 

Not every faithful life receives applause.

Not every sacrifice receives recognition.

But that does not make those things less valuable.

-- just like that little red flower blooming quietly in my yard, there is beauty in simply living faithfully where you are and doing what you were called to do and being who you were called to be – whether anyone sees it or not

-- history is filled with individuals who did just that – unnamed and unremembered people who lived faithful and beautiful lives for Christ without anyone noticing – without anyone giving them laud or decoration

-- people whose lives touched others in a myriad of ways – sometimes changing the direction of a life by simply being who they were and who God made them to be

 

-- this morning – on this Mother’s Day – I want us to consider two women who did just that – two women who quietly bloomed where they lived and who faithfully shared their lives and their beliefs with others

-- in this case, we do know their names – Lois and Eunice – but 2 Timothy 1:5 is the only place in the entire Bible where they are mentioned by name – there are a couple of other passages that allude to them, but not by name and not in any great detail

-- other than these two instances and this verse here in 2 Timothy, we know nothing about them – about who they were – how they lived – what they did – whether Eunice was a single mother or remained married during Timothy’s life

-- we don’t know if Lois lived with her or, if she did, why she did so – we don’t know anything about them – other than they were instrumental in bringing Timothy to faith and that their faithfulness rippled throughout history to this very moment

-- so, with that, let’s take a few moments to consider the lives of the unsung heroes of the faith – men and women like Lois and Eunice – and how we can live lives of meaning and purpose like them just by blooming quietly and faithfully where we are planted

 

II.  Lois and Eunice

            -- to begin the story of Lois and Eunice, we have to start at the beginning – at the moment when Paul first came into their acquaintance and the acquaintance of Timothy, who would become his dearly beloved son in the faith

            -- in Acts 16:1-3, we read about this initial meeting with Paul

 

Acts 16:1 Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer but whose father was a Greek. 2 The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. 3 Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

 

            -- so, during his second missionary journey, Paul came to the region of Lystra – an ancient Roman colony located about 25 miles south-southwest of Iconium – it is in modern-day Turkey

            -- it was along an established Roman road that ran from Ephesus through towns such as Sardis, Pisidian Antioch, Iconium to its terminus in Syrian Antioch – right in the middle, lay the little town of Lystra – so, this was a road that Paul followed during his ministry journeys

– at every town along the way, he would stop and try to find believers and preach the gospel to them or leave them with an encouraging word in an attempt to strengthen the churches there in this pagan land

            -- on this second missionary journey, Paul came into Lystra and was introduced to Timothy – a Christian who was highly spoken of by the believers both in Lystra and Iconium

            -- we learn that Timothy was of mixed heritage – his mother was Jewish, but his father was Greek – which explains why Timothy had not been circumcised as a child, because this was a Jewish tradition that would have been carried out by the father – since Paul was so impressed by Timothy that he wanted to take him on his journeys, he had Timothy circumcised, so this would not be a stumbling block to any Jews or Jewish believers they met

            -- so, from this passage in Acts 16, we learn that Timothy’s mother was a Jew – she would have been raised in the Jewish faith – but was probably not a devout follower of Judaism, since she ended up marrying outside the faith and did not press her husband to have Timothy circumcised on the eighth day, as Jewish law required

            -- at some point – probably through the teaching and evangelism of Paul – Timothy’s mother became a Christian – and apparently a very devout and faithful Christian -- she joined with the believers in Lystra to form the church there, and it was during Paul’s visit with that church that he first met her and Timothy, who would go on with him on the rest of his missionary journey

 

            -- look back over at 2 Timothy 1

 

2 Timothy 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, in keeping with the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,

 

2 To Timothy, my dear son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

3 I thank God, whom I serve, as my ancestors did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. 4 Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. 5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.

 

            -- Timothy made an impression on Paul, from the very first moment – not only was Timothy’s faith and belief in Jesus so strong that Paul wanted him to join in the ministry, but Timothy became like a son to him during that trip

            -- we see that in both of these epistles to Timothy, which are the most personal letters that Paul wrote – in 1 Timothy, he calls Timothy his true son in the faith – and here in 2 Timothy 1:2, he says that Timothy is his “dear son” or “beloved son”

            -- he talks about how often he remembers Timothy in his prayers and how he gives thanks for him and how he longs to see him, so that he might be filled with joy

            -- in a very real sense, Timothy was a son to Paul – who, as best we can tell, never married or had children of his own

 

            -- but Paul’s relationship with Timothy was more than just a father to a son – there was a spiritual kindred there – a shared sense of faith and ministry and calling

            -- in verse 5, Paul says that he is reminded of Timothy’s sincere faith – his real faith – faith that was honest and genuine – not manufactured – not practiced only on Sundays – but a faith that defined him as a person

            -- this faith, Paul says, first lived in his grandmother Lois and in his mother Eunice – and now had been brought to life in him

            -- Paul is saying a lot with that statement – and this goes back to my thoughts on quietly blooming where you are planted – on being faithful to who you are and what God has called you to, no matter how big or small that calling might be regarded by others

 

            -- Timothy apparently began life in a home that did not value religion to any great extent – with a Greek father and Jewish mother, he probably was not raised in the Jewish faith and probably didn’t go to synagogue to be taught the scriptures or the traditions of his Jewish heritage

            -- I think it would be safe to say that Timothy’s family was probably like a lot of our families – they were nominal religious people, at best – and we understand that – for a lot of us, religion was nothing more than going to church at Christmas and Easter – maybe a Vacation Bible School, here or there – maybe attending a few Sundays during the year -- but nothing more

            -- if asked, we would say we were Christians because we were part of a church – but, in reality, true faith was not there – as Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:5, a lot of us had a form of godliness, but we denied its power – in other words, we appeared to be Christians, but only nominally – not really accepting or living out the calling of Christ in our lives

            -- this is how I believe Lois and Eunice lived – this was their how their household functioned – and when Timothy came along, not much changed, as evidenced by their failure to have Timothy circumcised

-- but at some point, something changed for Lois and Eunice – we don’t know for sure what happened, but we see Lois and Eunice mentioned as being women of faith – women known as part of the church – an integral part of the body of believers in the Lystra community

            -- and where she had failed to pass on her Jewish heritage to Timothy at the beginning, Eunice and her mother Lois exceeded expectations and impressed on Timothy the truth of the gospel of Christ – teaching him from the scriptures from the time he was a little boy – as Paul says here in verse 5, this sincere and genuine faith in Christ that he sees in Timothy first lived in Lois and Eunice – and they were the ones who passed it on to him

 

            -- turn over to Chapter 3:14-15

 

2 Timothy 3:14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

 

            -- as Paul begins to conclude this letter to Timothy, he urges him to continue in what he had learned and become convinced of – in other words, the truths of the gospel that Timothy had accepted and put his sincere faith in – living, not as a nominal Christian, but as a Christian who lived out his faith daily

            -- Paul says, continue in your faith, because you know those from whom you learned it – and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus

            -- when Lois and Eunice became believers, their lives changed – they accepted the religion and faith of Christ wholeheartedly – and they were intentional in passing their faith on to Timothy – teaching him from the scriptures themselves – telling him about Jesus – and sharing the traditions of their faith

            -- Paul certainly had a hand in helping Timothy grow in the faith, but he simply built on the foundation of faith that Lois and Eunice had poured into Timothy as a child

            -- it was their faith – blooming quietly there in Lystra and demonstrated through their lives in that community – that turned Timothy into the man of faith that Paul celebrates in these two epistles

            -- Lois and Eunice show how little red flowers blooming quietly all by themselves can change the world simply by being faithful to their calling

 

III.  Closing

            -- I want to close by sharing with you the story of how living like Lois and Eunice can impact people even today

            -- several years ago, there was a young grade school teacher named Mrs. Thompson – Mrs. Thompson taught in the fifth grade in a small school in Iowa – and even though she tried to be a good teacher and show love to all her students the same, there was one student she just didn’t like – a little boy named Teddy Stoddard

            -- Teddy was one of those boys who was on the outside of social settings – he didn’t play well with the other children – he was frequently alone on the playground – his clothes were messy – and he constantly needed a bath – on top of all of that, he was unpleasant – in speech and in his attitude towards Mrs. Thompson and his classmates

            -- and so, Mrs. Thompon just didn’t like him – in fact, even though it felt wrong, she found delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen – making bold Xs and then putting a big “F” on the top of most of his papers – she thought he deserved it for the way he lived and the way he treated everyone around him

            -- At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, the teachers were required to review each child’s past records, and she put Teddy’s off until last. However, when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise.

            -- Teddy’s first grade teacher wrote, “Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners… he is a joy to be around..”

            -- His second-grade teacher wrote, “Teddy is an excellent student, well-liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle.”

            -- Mrs. Thompson was confused – this didn’t sound like the Teddy she knew at all – she turned to his third grade report

-- His third grade teacher wrote, “His mother’s death has been hard on him. He tries to do his best, but his father doesn’t show much interest and his home life will soon affect him if some steps aren’t taken.”

            -- Teddy’s fourth grade teacher wrote, “Teddy is withdrawn and doesn’t show much interest in school. He doesn’t have many friends and he sometimes sleeps in class.”

            -- By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and she was ashamed of herself.

 

-- On that very day, she quit teaching reading, writing and arithmetic -- Instead, she began to teach children.

-- Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy -- As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive -- The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded. By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class and, despite her lie that she would love all the children the same, Teddy became one of her “teacher’s pets..”

            -- at the end of the year, she found a note under her door from Teddy, telling her that she was the best teacher he ever had in his whole life

 

-- Six years went by before she got another note from Teddy. He then wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in life.

 

-- Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that while things had been tough at times, he’d stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would soon graduate from college with the highest of honors -- He assured Mrs. Thompson that she was still the best and favorite teacher he had ever had in his whole life.

 

-- Then four more years passed and yet another letter came. This time he explained that after he got his bachelor’s degree, he decided to go a little further. The letter explained that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had. But now his name was a little longer…. The letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, MD.

 

-- The story does not end there. You see, there was yet another letter that spring. Teddy said he had met this girl and was going to be married. He explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he was wondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit at the wedding in the place that was usually reserved for the mother of the groom. -- Of course, Mrs. Thompson did.

-- after the ceremony, Teddy hugged Mrs. Thompson and whispered in her ear, “Thank you Mrs. Thompson for believing in me. Thank you so much for making me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference.”

            -- Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back. She said, “Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn’t know how to teach until I met you.”¹

 

            -- Mrs. Thompson had a profound impact on Dr. Stoddard because she began to pour out her love into his life – Lois and Eunice did the same with Timothy – and all of us can do the same with those that God places into our paths

            -- all of us can bloom faithfully where we are as we share God’s love and His message of hope with those around us – all of us have the ability to change another person’s life by sharing with them the faith and love we have

           

            -- I want to leave you with an excerpt from a poem by Mary Rita Schilke Korzan that speaks to the power a person can have on the life of another – especially the power that a mother or grandmother can have on their children  

            -- it's called, "When You Thought I Wasn't Looking"

 

            -- “When you thought I wasn't looking, you hung my first painting on the refrigerator and I wanted to paint another one.

 

            -- When you thought I wasn't looking, you fed a stray cat, And I thought it was good to be kind to animals.

 

            -- When you thought I wasn't looking, you baked a birthday cake just for me, And I knew that little things were special things.

 

            -- When you thought I wasn't looking, you said a prayer, And I believed there is a God I could always talk to.

 

            -- When you thought I wasn't looking, you kissed me good-night And I felt loved.

 

            -- When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw tears come from your eyes, And I learned that sometimes things hurt-- But it's all right to cry.

 

            When you thought I wasn't looking, you smiled And it made me want to look that pretty too.

 

            -- When you thought I wasn't looking, you cared, And I wanted to be everything I could be.

 

            -- When you thought I wasn't looking, I looked... And I wanted to say “thanks" for all those things you did When you thought I wasn't looking.”

 

            -- let me ask you this -- who is looking at you today? – who’s life are you influencing just by being you? – Lois and Eunice changed Timothy’s life forever even through their love and faith -- and you are changing someone else's life even though you might not know they are looking

            -- as we close now, let me remind you of the power you have to change lives for better or worse -- and let me encourage you to always consider what your actions and your words can do to those around you

            -- may God bless you today and keep you in His grace as you seek to live out His example for others

            -- let us pray

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1 An Inspirational Story of Leadership Influence by Leading with Honor | Feb 11, 2020 | Quotes/Wisdom; https://www.leadingwithhonor.com/an-inspirational-story-of-leadership-influence/

SERMON: PSALM 65 -- SAVIOR, SOVEREIGN, SUSTAINER

 

Naylor Community Christian Church

Naylor, Georgia

 

I.  Introduction

            -- turn in Bibles to Psalm 65:1-13

 

Psalm 65

For the director of music. A psalm of David. A song.

1 Praise awaits you, our God, in Zion;

    to you our vows will be fulfilled.

2 You who answer prayer,

    to you all people will come.

3 When we were overwhelmed by sins,

    you forgave our transgressions.

4 Blessed are those you choose

    and bring near to live in your courts!

We are filled with the good things of your house,

    of your holy temple.

 

5 You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds,

    God our Savior,

the hope of all the ends of the earth

    and of the farthest seas,

6 who formed the mountains by your power,

    having armed yourself with strength,

7 who stilled the roaring of the seas,

    the roaring of their waves,

    and the turmoil of the nations.

8 The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders;

    where morning dawns, where evening fades,

    you call forth songs of joy.

 

9 You care for the land and water it;

    you enrich it abundantly.

The streams of God are filled with water

    to provide the people with grain,

    for so you have ordained it.

10 You drench its furrows and level its ridges;

    you soften it with showers and bless its crops.

11 You crown the year with your bounty,

    and your carts overflow with abundance.

12 The grasslands of the wilderness overflow;

    the hills are clothed with gladness.

13 The meadows are covered with flocks

    and the valleys are mantled with grain;

    they shout for joy and sing.

 

            -- this morning, as we lifted up our praises and prayer concerns before God, one of the things that we praised God for was sending us rain

-- as everyone knows, we’ve been caught in an exceptional drought – it just has not rained like normal – and all of nature has been suffering – the grass is dying – trees are shedding their leaves – fruit is not setting – seeds are languishing in the soil because they don’t have the moisture to germinate – and the farmers have been kicking the dust and looking at the sky for answers

– we haven’t been this dry in over 20 years – and with the dry vegetation and all the debris from Hurricane Helene, our forests are a tinderbox – that’s why we’ve had those two massive wildfires in our region over the past several weeks – over 50,000 acres burned and almost 200 homes and businesses lost

-- so, the rain that we had yesterday was a much-needed blessing from God

 

-- a similar drought occurred in Ohio back in 1853 – and just like us, they were in trouble – in fact, they were in worse trouble than us – the farmers were in danger of losing their entire livelihood of crops and livestock because they didn’t have the ability to irrigate and to draw water from the ground like we can today

            -- things got so bad with the drought, the farmers decided the only thing they could do was to ask God for His help -- they reached out to the famous evangelist, Charles Finney, and asked him to come and pray for rain – they believed that if God would listen to anyone, He would surely listen to the prayers of this Godly man -- Finney agreed, and on the day he was scheduled to arrive, the whole community gathered in the town square to greet him and to join him in prayer

            -- he took his place behind the podium that had been set up in the town square, and looked out at the crowd of anxious people who were trusting his prayers would move God to bring much-needed rain to their community -- he gazed at them for a few moments, and then said, “I see I am the only one who brought an umbrella”

            -- although everyone there claimed to be seeking God’s help and proclaimed that they believed God could bring the rain, only Finney truly believed, for only Finney had brought an umbrella with him to this prayer service

-- he preached a short sermon on faith, then set his umbrella down by his chair and began to pray, “Lord, we do not presume to tell you what is best for us. You invite us to come to you as children to a father and tell you all of our wants. We need rain. Unless you give us rain our cattle will die and our harvest will come to naught. It is an easy thing for you to do, O Lord, send us rain.”

            -- the rest is history -- God immediately answered the prayer that Charles Finney offered up on behalf of the people that day – and the rain poured down on them, even as they were gathered there in prayer – Finney’s umbrella was a reminder that God hears the prayers of the faithful, who truly trust in Him and look to Him for their salvation and survival in this dry and dusty land

 

            -- anyone who depends on the land for sustenance would understand the effect that drought has on a community – and how such times of drought drive us to our knees before the throne of God for help

            -- certainly, King David understood it, for we see in this psalm David’s reliance on God and God alone for salvation and survival

            -- commentators are unsure as to the inspiration for this psalm that David wrote, but several believe it was in response to God’s sending of rain after a drought, such as the one we have been experiencing – and that the abundance of fruit and grain that followed this blessing from God caused David to lead the nation of Israel in joyful praise to God for hearing his prayer and pouring out abundance upon His people

-- in this Psalm, we see the heart-felt response of David to God as he praises and worships for who He is and what He does in answer to our prayers and our needs – David looks beyond the immediate and the material – the momentary troubles of this life -- to the eternal blessings that only come through God        

-- so, as we come together in a similar situation today to celebrate the rain that God has sent and as we look forward to God finally breaking this drought, let us turn together to David’s psalm of praise and worship and see how David’s words might inspire us to reverence God in this time in the same way

 

II.  Scripture Lesson (Psalm 65:1-13)

            -- verse 1

 

Psalm 65

For the director of music. A psalm of David. A song.

1 Praise awaits you, our God, in Zion;

    to you our vows will be fulfilled.

2 You who answer prayer,

    to you all people will come.

 

            -- this psalm opens with the declaration that “praise awaits you, our God”

            -- the word that is translated as awaits or awaiting here comes from a root that means to be silent – by using this word, David is evoking two common emotions

            -- the first is the emotion that we feel when we are anticipating a great act – for instance, think about being in a darkened concert hall, waiting for the opening notes from a great singer or from an orchestra – there is a feeling of heightened anticipation – everyone in the place is on the edge of their seats – straining forward – waiting for the first notes to fill the hall – there is a moment of collective energy – and then, when the first notes escape into the atmosphere, the entire hall erupts in applause and praise

            -- that is what David is trying to express here – Zion has gathered in anticipation of the coming of the Lord – all creation is waiting for the moment the Lord appears – their eyes are straining to see into the heavens – their ears are listening for that first trumpet – and everyone is eagerly awaiting the sight of the Lord – that is the moment David is trying to capture here – that moment of eager anticipation

            -- the other emotion that David is capturing in this phrase is the moment after the praise has ended – the moment when there is nothing but silence – and you sit in that silence in awe of what has just happened

 

            -- several years ago, I went to a Promise Keepers event in Atlanta – these were two-day events – and the second day was supposed to start about 8:00 in the morning – I arrived early – along with most of the people – we got there about 7:00 – and we gathered in the dark of the arena and found our seats – there was quiet talking among everyone – and then in the darkness, the worship band started to play “Holy, Holy, Holy,” from the stage

            -- every man in that place stood up and sang in praise and worship together – one mighty voice ascending to the very throne of God – and when the last note was played – when the song ended – there was just silence – we sat there in that moment, overwhelmed by what we had just experienced – that is the other meaning and emotion that David is expressing here

            -- after we have lifted up our praise and worship to our God – when the last note is sounded and our voices are hushed – we just stand in His presence in silence – experiencing the moment we have shared

            -- that is what David means here when he tells God that praise awaits you – he’s capturing our emotions as we sit in silent anticipation of the moment and as we bathe in the silence of the glory of praise that we shared in

 

            -- notice who it is that is praising God here – it says in verse 1 that the “vows will be fulfilled” – these are the vows of praise and thanksgiving that God demands – that were written into the laws of Israel

-- this tells us that these are the people of God who have gathered to wait in anticipation to praise Him – those who know Him and have pledged themselves to Him

            -- if you’ll notice in verse 2, it says, “to you all people will come” – the term, “all people,” refers to all mankind

– we talked before about how the majority of the Bible was written solely to the nation of Israel – and how we should read and interpret the Bible with good exegesis to see what God was saying to them before we try to apply the passages to us in a more general way – that we don’t try to appropriate promises or blessings that were intended only for the nation of Israel

-- this is not one of these passages – this Psalm was written as a call to praise for all the people on earth as we worship and praise God for His blessings that He pours out on all mankind, not just on the nation of Israel

-- David’s intent here is for all the peoples of earth to gather in praise of God – for all creation to cry out to Him in worship

            -- I think this Psalm may be pointing towards the future manifestation of kingdom of God on earth – when this old earth will have passed away and there are new heavens and a new earth – when there is no longer any sin or shame or guilt – when all evil is purged from the land and sin and death cast into the Lake of Fire

-- at that time, all the people will come -- all the redeemed from the entire history of the world will gather together in Zion as the people of God – one nation – one people – one kingdom – one church – one bride – praising God’s holy name on Zion before His throne, just as we see described in the Book of Revelation

 

            -- finally, I don’t want you to miss David’s description of God here in verse 2 – he calls God, “You who answers prayer” – David sees God as our sovereign Lord who knows His people and who cares for each and every one of us – God hears our prayers – and not only does He hear our prayers, He answers them – not because He has to – but because we are His and He is ours

            -- this name for God – You who answers prayer -- recognizes both the relationship between us and God and His grace in hearing and answering our prayers because of it

 

-- verse 3

 

Psalm 65:3 When we were overwhelmed by sins,

    you forgave our transgressions.

 

            -- so, why do we praise God? – what causes us to wait in eager anticipation for His coming so that we might pour out our praises before His throne?

            -- first, David reminds us that God is our Savior – here in verse 3, we read that God forgave our transgressions – literally, God atoned for our transgressions and sins when we were overwhelmed and overcome by them

 

            -- I read a news article this week that said, for the first time ever in our 250 year history, the US national debt surpassed 100% of the nation's GDP – the Gross Domestic Product – our country owes over one trillion dollars in interest payments to investors – roughly 120% of our GDP – which means that the interest on our debt exceeds the entire annual economic output – this has been driven by high spending, rising interest costs, and an aging population

-- to put this in terms that we can relate to, this means that we owe more money than we take in – for us, it would be like our bills being bigger than our paychecks, with no way out

-- crushing debt – debt that we can’t ever hope to pay

 

-- that is what our sin debt was like – as David says here, we were overwhelmed by our sin – it was greater than we could pay – we had no hope of every atoning for our sin on our own – we couldn’t do enough good works – we couldn’t make enough sacrifices – we couldn’t do enough good things to pay our way out of the sin and transgressions that we had accumulated

-- we were bound by sin and death and were hopelessly trapped – that’s why Paul cried out in Romans 7:24, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?”

-- but thankfully, our story doesn’t end there – for Paul goes on in verse 25 to say, “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

 

-- that is what David is saying here – when we were overwhelmed by our sins and transgressions – when there was nothing more we could do – God delivered us – He forgave our sins and made atonement for us through Christ Jesus -- God Himself provided the atonement – the covering – the sacrifice – that paid the blood debt for the sins that we committed – Christ became sin for us and died on the cross to save us

            -- because God has so graciously atoned for our sins – removing the guilt and lifting off the burden – we find peace with Him – and we come before Him in praise – pouring out our joy as we praise God for the hope we have in Him and in Christ

 

            -- verse 4

 

Psalm 65:4 Blessed are those you choose

    and bring near to live in your courts!

We are filled with the good things of your house,

    of your holy temple.

 

5 You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds,

    God our Savior,

the hope of all the ends of the earth

    and of the farthest seas,

6 who formed the mountains by your power,

    having armed yourself with strength,

7 who stilled the roaring of the seas,

    the roaring of their waves,

    and the turmoil of the nations.

 

            -- next, David says, we praise God for He is Sovereign – He is our Lord – He is our God – He is our King

            -- we have been chosen by Him and brought near to live in the very courts of His throne – in Ephesians 1:4, we read that God chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight – and as John wrote in John 1:12-13, for those of us who have received Him – who have believed on His name – He gave us the right to become the children of God – born not of man or of human decision – but born of God

            -- we are His children – the people of His name – the heirs of the inheritance of Christ – filled with the good things of His house – blessed, as Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:3, with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms

           

            -- David says that God our Savior answers our prayers and our praises with awesome and righteous deeds – He is our hope to all the ends of the earth – in Him and through Him we have the promise of eternal life – and we see His power and sovereignty poured out and displayed in His creative power

            -- for it was God who formed the mountains by His great power – with just a word, they came into being – He armed Himself with all strength and power and greatness – He stilled the roaring of the seas – He brought peace to the nations – turning aside the division and chaos and turmoil and uniting all people under His banner

 

            -- verse 8

 

Psalm 65:8 The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders;

    where morning dawns, where evening fades,

    you call forth songs of joy.

 

9 You care for the land and water it;

    you enrich it abundantly.

The streams of God are filled with water

    to provide the people with grain,

    for so you have ordained it.

10 You drench its furrows and level its ridges;

    you soften it with showers and bless its crops.

11 You crown the year with your bounty,

    and your carts overflow with abundance.

12 The grasslands of the wilderness overflow;

    the hills are clothed with gladness.

13 The meadows are covered with flocks

    and the valleys are mantled with grain;

    they shout for joy and sing.

 

            -- God is our Savior – He is our Sovereign – and, finally, we praise Him because He is our Sustainer – He blesses us and sustains our life – both here and forever more

 

            -- we recognize God’s providential hand to all creation and to all mankind – even now, as this world walks in darkness – God has not turned His back on us, but continues to pour out His grace and sustenance on everyone – saved and sinner alike

            -- the Bible tells us in Matthew 5:45 that God causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good – and He sends rain on the righteous and unrighteous

            -- He continues to bless all peoples so that His invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – can be seen and experienced by all and might draw people to His saving embrace through the atoning death and resurrection of Christ

 

            -- as David describes God here, He is the One who shows that we all may have confidence in Him – that we can trust Him – that we can depend on Him – on the earth and on the sea – He is the one who makes the mountains firm – He is the one who stills the noise of the waves – He is the one who blesses His people and calls them to salvation

            -- the whole earth sees the hand of God – in the rising of the sun and the setting of the same – in the days and seasons and the times marked out by the courses of the stars and heavenly bodies

            -- in the rain and sunshine that provide food for all creation -- His power and presence is seen and felt throughout all Creation – and our hearts and souls respond with songs of joy

 

            -- in verse 9, David points out that God cares for the land – there are some who believe that God just created the heavens and the earth and then stepped back, allowing them to run on their own without any interference or participation – I’ve seen many articles that say our founding fathers were deists like this – men who believed in God, but did not see His active involvement in the affairs of man

– but this verse says otherwise – David says that God cares for the land – that implies active involvement – that implies that He is aware of the condition of the land – as Jesus said, He sees the sparrows when they fall – God is aware of His creation at all times – and He is actively involved in taking care of that which He has created -- He pours out His providential blessings upon the earth and all its inhabitants

            -- when creation needs water, God provides the rain – when the grain in the field needs water, He provides it – so that He might take care of His creation and His people

            -- when we’re caught in the grip of exceptional droughts, God sends the rains as He wills – drenching the furrows and leveling the ridges – softening the hard and dry parched ground with showers and blessing the crops upon it

 

            -- as our Sustainer, God pours out blessings and abundance on His people

            -- David says here that God crowns the year with His bounty – this literally refers to a year where the abundance of God’s blessings is poured out on all creation – a time of abundant goodness and kindness and production

 

– when I was in school, we studied habitat management – taking care of the forests and the fields in such a way as to provide for the wildlife we were managing – we were taught how the wildlife depends on fruit and mast – the nuts and berries and other food that animals get from nature

– and we were told that nature is very fickle – some years, there is enough food and mast for the animals to survive – but other years, like this year here in south Georgia, times are hard – the drought affects the trees and the vegetation – and they don’t produce enough food for the animals to survive – in those years, we were told that we needed to step in and provide when nature couldn’t – so that the animals would persist

-- but every so often, there will be a year when all the trees produce an abundance of fruits and nuts – and when that happens, it is amazing to see -- it’s like the trees and bushes are just making as much fruit and mast as they are capable of making – I have seek oak trees with their limbs literally drooping on the ground from the number of acorns on the branches – I’ve seen fruit trees just bending over from all the fruit

-- we can’t predict those years – they happen as God wills them – and when they happen, all of creation rejoices – the animals gorge themselves on the goodness – they eat until they almost burst -- they are overfilled with the blessings of abundance – and in these years of abundance, the animals cache food and store up food for the future – it is just a time of super abundance – as the musical Porgy and Bess says, “It’s summertime and the living is easy”

-- that’s the picture – the image – that we are given in this verse – David describes for us a season of plenty – a season of super abundance – a season of extravagant fruitfulness and faithfulness – however, this season will never end – it will last for eternity

 

            -- in verse 12, we read that “the grasslands of the wilderness overflow” – and we picture that in our minds

            -- a lot of us dream of going over to the Holy Land – of seeing the nation of Israel and the land described in the Bible – we want to go and see where Jesus walked – we want to go and see all the places described for us in the Bible -- we want to go and see the grasslands of the wilderness – the green pastures beside the still waters we read of in the psalms

-- but ask anyone who has gone over there and they’ll tell you the same thing – there are no grasslands in the wilderness in Israel – there might be some areas that has a little grass where the dew and the runoff from the mountains provide enough water to support grass or around the streams – but most of the land is a dry and desolate area – this is the wilderness of the Bible

 

-- but this is not what it will always be – in the future, David reminds us that God will bless the land – that the grasslands of the wilderness will overflow – it will be as Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 35:1-2, “The desert and the parched land will be glad – the wilderness will rejoice and blossom…it will burst into bloom”

            -- God’s kingdom is always a kingdom of abundance – whether that is an abundance of crops of grain or meadows or fruit – or whether it is an abundance of God’s grace and mercy

            -- God brings beauty from ashes and creates grasslands in wilderness – and when we experience the abundance of His sustaining grace – we cannot help but respond with shouts of joy and praise

– this is a picture of the hope we have in Christ – of the hope for the future Kingdom – when we will dwell with God forever in times of overflowing goodness and abundance

            -- it is a promise to us who walk through the wilderness of this life that there is a better future in store – that although we may experience the dryness and dustiness of exceptional droughts from time to time, the rains will come – God will provide – His salvation and sovereignty and sustaining hand will see us through -- and we should praise God for this promise – for the hope we have in Him – who alone can provide this to us

            -- this Psalm reminds us that we should always look to God and praise Him because He is our Savior – our Sovereign – and our Sustainer

 

III.  Closing

            -- let me close this morning with yet another example of a difficult time from history – this time, it’s not a drought, but an economic depression – in 1893, things weren’t going well in America – we had come through the devastation of the Civil War, but we had settled into a depression that put one out of every five Americans out of work

            -- things were hard – the bills were bigger than the paychecks, for those lucky enough to have one – and no one had any hope of the future getting better

            -- it was during the summer of this year that Katharine Lee Bates, a young English teacher who had taken a summer teaching job in Colorado, left her home in Massachusetts and traveled across the country by train to her new home

            -- as she rode through the forests of the eastern U.S. – as she crossed the Mississippi River in all its greatness – as she saw the enormous wheat fields in Kansas – Bates saw hope for this nation who had been through so much

            -- it all came together when she took a trip to the summit of Pikes Peak in Colorado, and looked out upon the countryside that lay before her

            -- she was only up there for 30 minutes, but she never forgot what she saw – she later remarked, “It was then and there, as I was looking out over the sea-like expanse of fertile country spreading away so far under those ample skies, that the opening lines of the hymn floated into my mind”

            -- that night in her hotel room, Bates wrote a letter to her friends in England and remarked that countries such as England had failed because, while they may have been “great,” they had not been “good” – she added that “unless we are willing to crown our greatness with goodness, and our bounty with brotherhood, our beloved America may go the same way”

            -- based on her experiences on that trip, she wrote a poem that was published in a church newspaper for their 4^th of July edition two years later – it was eventually put to music, and the beloved hymn, “America the Beautiful,” was born with its amazing opening stanza:

 

            “O beautiful for spacious skies,

For amber waves of grain,

For purple mountain majesties

Above the fruited plain!

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!”

 

         -- in this hymn, Bates captured what David was expressing so vividly in this psalm – an attitude of appreciation and gratitude for our nation’s extraordinary physical beauty and abundance – and a recognition of God’s hand in our nation’s history

            -- through God and through His abundant blessings, Bates proclaimed that we could overcome anything – from economic depression to civil wars to exceptional droughts

            -- the same thing that David is saying in this psalm – through God – who is our Savior – our Sovereign – and our Sustainer – we enjoy His many blessings and we look forward in eager anticipation for the end of days – when the trumpet will sound and Christ will return – and we join together in praise with all people from all nations to worship the King in Zion

 

            -- even though, we find ourselves on this side of the promise – even though we still walk through a land that is affected by the fall and that still experiences the consequences of sin – even though we are not yet experiencing the abundance of the everlasting kingdom -- let us be inspired and remember to praise God for His manifold blessings – for His hand that protects – and for His Son who saves and sustains

            -- for our God is a Great God – and it is to Him that we owe all our praise and worship – forever and ever -- Amen

            -- let us pray

 

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1 Modified from illustration at http://www.chaimbentorah.com/2017/02/word-study-former-rains-%D7%99%D7%A8%D7%94/?print=print

2 Sermon Illustration modified from David Holwick sermon, “Bounty and Abundance,” https://www.holwick.com/sermons/Holwick_2013.html?Psalm65BountyandAbundance.html