Sermon of Sunday 11 July 2010 God's Word or a Godless World Psalm 119.17-40

Psalm 119.17-40 God's Word or a Godless World

Maybe you’ve been privileged as I have to visit some famous art galleries
like the Louvre in Paris
and you’ve been overwhelmed by all that’s there
so overwhelmed that you’ve done like many other tourists
you follow the signs straight to the Mon Lisa
but you have a sense that there are many more wonderful paintings
that you’ve missed.

But Psalm 119 does not have signage on it to say
this or that verse is the heart of it, the one not to miss.
It is constructed differently.
Each section has a Hebrew letter at its beginning
and each verse of that section begins with that Hebrew letter
So you have a structure to celebrate the variety of God’s word.
This means that each section is like a room in the art gallery
with all sorts of wonderful things put together
and the gallery curator (God!) wants you really to go through all the rooms
is you want to appreciate the whole treasure.

We have to admit that we don’t have time for that
or maybe the truth is we won’t commit the time.
But let me try to open out some of the treasures God has for us from v 16 on even if we never get them all.

1 DO WE APPRECIATE THE WONDERS OF WHAT GOD SAYS TO US?

18 'Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.'

It’s good to have an open bible.
For years now we have copied the practice of the Reformed Church in France
in having a Bible open on the communion table
to remind us that God’s word is to be read, it mustn’t be a closed book.

But we mustn’t have closed minds and hearts either.
That’s why the Psalmist prays for his eyes to be opened.
There are people who know the Bible well,
maybe they got prizes for memorising as children
and yet it might as well be a closed book for the effect it has had on their lives.
It’s like what happens when you live in a touristic area:
all these wonderful sights and things to do under your nose
and we are too busy to get around to them.
Example: I’ve lived in Cork for over 21 years
and I have yet to visit Blarney castle and kiss the famous stone
Nor have I rung the bells at Shandon.

How many of us need our eyes opened to the wonderful riches
in what God wants to say to us in his word?

It’s not simply that the hymn says
‘Wonderful things in the Bible I see
this is the best that Jesus loves me.’
That indeed is wonderful
but there are many more wonders in the Bible
which lead up to that wonder of wonders>

That there is a God at all ?

That he made all things visible and invisible?

That he is utterly holy and pure and good?
And we are not

and yet this God makes it possible for us to know him
because his Son came and died for us and rose again?

That we can have peace, sinful as we are, with a just and holy God?

That we can face death with confidence?

That we can relate to other people with deep love and without fear?

Are those things not completely amazing?
And how would we know any of those amazing things
except that they are written in this book
and that God by his Holy Spirit gives us the ability to
open our eyes and see the wonderful things

It doesn’t just come by reading the Bible.
It comes by reading the bible prayerfully.

But there is a cost as God opens our eyes to grasping these wonderful truths.

2 DO WE ACCEPT THE COST OF THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN God’s WORD AND A GODLESS WORLD?

The prayer is simple but profound in v 18
but in v 19 there is a note of alarm
19 'I am a stranger on earth; do not hide your commands from me.'
And the alarm becomes stronger:
22 'Remove from me scorn and contempt, for I keep your statutes.'
23 'Though rulers sit together and slander me, your servant will meditate on your decrees.'
25 'I am laid low in the dust; preserve my life according to your word.'
28 'My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word.'

If you take God’s word seriously
you will find increasingly a distance between you and those who leave God out
who put their security in this world and not in God..
The writer to the Hebrews said
‘that here we have no continuing city
but we seek one that is to come whose author and founder is God'.
Peter wrote in his first letter that we are aliens and strangers in this world.
Jesus himself made the distinction: John 15.19
'If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own.
As it is, you do not belong to the world,
but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.'

Some of you know what it is like to be classified as an ‘alien’ in Ireland.
It’s not an easy condition, kept apart, under suspicion,
not regarded as ‘one of us’.
I hope in this church you feel that you are welcome,
wherever you have come from, whatever your legal status is.
But when any of us commits to Jesus our spiritual citizenship changes:
We are no longer going to be at ease, at home
in a world that does not know God;
the positive thing is that we have a home in God
and can rejoice in him because he alone is finally satisfying.

Let me make it clear at this point what is meant by ‘the world’
We are not talking about the created globe on which we are placed -
it is a good and wonderful creation, though spoiled by human sin -
and we are not talking about all human beings who are not Christians.
John 3.16 tells us clearly that God loved the world and gave his Son up for it
that whoever believes should not perish.
‘World’ here refers to those who rebel against God their creator
and want nothing to do with him.
You will know them by their negative response to your faith
as they express mockery, anger, as they start to avoid you, reject you.

I read the other day about a Christian from a Jewish background
seeking to share his faith with a Jewish couple
he met as they were queuing to visit a Jewish museum.
The wife said he could send his son to a new Jewish school in his area.
He replied ‘I don’t think he could go as my mother was not Jewish’.
‘Oh no, they said ‘That does not matter …
you are still Jewish, they have changed that.’
Then he said ‘there’s another reason he would not be welcome.
I am a Jew who believes that Jesus is the Messiah.’
As he said this, it was as if a steel door had been slammed down.
They both went extremely cold and the husband said
‘Your son does not deserve to go that school’
And they completely ignored him for the rest of the museum visit.
Sadly, something of the Christ rejecting world view had got into that couple
and pleasant friendliness was replaced by hostility on the issue of Jesus.

Please be clear on this: not every non Christian is part of the ‘world’
in this negative, hostile, Christ denying’ sense
but it is the case that the warmer we are in our walk with God
the colder we will find the world without Christ
the closer we become to Jesus
the more distant we shall become from those who reject him.

There is a cost to choosing God’s word over a godless world:
Loneliness as a stranger (19); scorn and contempt, slander 22, 23 ;
humiliation 25 weariness with sorrow.
But in all these experiences
he affirms he will keep God’s word and meditate on it
and he prays for strength from God’s word.
Last week I mentioned some bible verse to help us in times of stress:
they are printed out today as well as by e mail
I am adding a couple more to address how we cope with facing a hostile world:

Joshua 1.7-9
Be strong and very courageous.
Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you;
do not turn from it to the right or to the left,
that you may be successful wherever you go.
Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth;
meditate on it day and night,
so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.
Then you will be prosperous and successful.
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous.
Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged,
for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.

2 Timothy 1.7-9
For God did not give us a spirit of timidity,
but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord,
or ashamed of me his prisoner.
But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God,
who has saved us and called us to a holy life--
not because of anything we have done
but because of his own purpose and grace.

1 DO WE APPRECIATE THE WONDERS OF WHAT GOD SAYS TO US?
2 DO WE ACCEPT THE COST OF THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN God’s WORD AND A GODLESS WORLD?

3 WILL WE BE COMMITTED AND CONSISTENT:
WILL WE CHOOSE, STICK AND RUN WITH WHAT GOD SAYS?

Here we have three aspects of Christian commitment
The first is that we choose the way of truth and set our heart on what God says.
30 ‘I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart on your laws.’
We say make a deliberate decision to follow God.

This is nothing flighty where we can back out
and change our minds
as if we paint a room blue one year and then pink the next.
This is as deliberate a commitment to God
as couples getting married make their promises to each other.

The second aspect of Christian commitment is that we stick with it.
31 I hold fast to your statutes, O LORD; do not let me be put to shame.
It is relatively easy to make initial commitments
but sadly they can be like new year resolutions which rarely get into February.
Confirmation promises, however sincerely made
even a great conversion experience
are not always followed by day by day consistent discipleship.
Where are the Christians who will stick to what God says?
How many of us can truly sing the words of the hymn?
‘One here will constant be, come wind come foul weather’
There’s no discouragement will make him once relent
his first avowed intent to be a pilgrim.’
I am always glad to hear of people making their first commitment to Jesus
but I am even more glad to watch their lives and see them years later
still walking in God’s way.
The apostle John wrote in his third letter
‘3 It gave me great joy to have some brothers come
and tell about your faithfulness to the truth
and how you continue to walk in the truth.
4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.’
May our willingness to stick continually to the truth bring others much joy.
But there can be more than walking.

The third aspect of Christian commitment is that we run with a liberated heart.
32 'I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.'
When our children were small one of the many things I had to learn
was how much and how fast they can run.
I remember when Naomi was two or three
we were on the beach with a great flat stretch of sand
and she looked around with a grin and started to run and run
and I had to run after her.
Or when Peter was a bit older
we were visiting a school with a running track
and he just started to run the course and I just stood and watched.
Children run because
they have surplus energy
they enjoy life and they want to experience more
they aren’t weighed down by worries about life.

When we trust in Jesus we become born again, a child of God
we have new life, a new heart
God makes our heart free, or makes it larger
thinking of the heart as basically our will, the command centre of our lives.

Let me challenge you as I must challenge myself
that the best response to God’s word
and to God’s liberation of us from our guilt
is that we can not only walk
but like carefree children we may run in what God wants us to do.

1 DO WE APPRECIATE THE WONDERS OF WHAT GOD SAYS TO US?
2 DO WE ACCEPT THE COST OF THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN God’s WORD AND A GODLESS WORLD?
3 WILL WE BE COMMITTED AND CONSISTENT:
WILL WE CHOOSE, STICK AND RUN WITH WHAT GOD SAYS?