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For Those Not Attending an In-Person Service We Will Have For those not attending an in-person service we will have first listened to the official lyric video of Toby Mac’s song “Keep Walking.” You can find it and also see concert performances of the song on YouTube. Psalms of Ascent – Journey On Surrounded (Psalms 125-126) Perhaps you are familiar with this quote from Max Lucado, “Thanks to Christ, this earth can be the nearest you come to hell. But apart from Christ, this earth is the nearest you come to heaven.” God’s calling on believers is a one-way journey. Paul wrote in Philippians 3:14, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” The Psalms of Ascent were sung to remind Jewish pilgrims of their relationship with God. To keep their heads and hearts anchored in their heavenly home, their true home. But sometimes not even Jerusalem, the city of their God, was “near enough.” For us too. Sometimes “hell” feels far too near. Disillusionment and the loss of hope are real. Workplace conflicts, mental health tragedies associated COVID-19, increased drug and alcohol abuse and suicide, and stressed family relationships. As Israel was often a defeated, occupied nation, singing, “Those who trust in the Lord are as secure as Mount Zion; they will not be defeated but will endure forever…” did not mix with reality. Perhaps your reality doesn’t gel with this passage either. A couple of weeks ago I pointed out that in the time of Jesus, in spite of the fact that men eighteen years and older were commanded to make the journey up to Jerusalem three times a year (Exodus 23:14-17, 34:18-23), for all intents and practices, these pilgrimages had become “optional.” Jewish history contains stories of pilgrims beginning and turning around. Some never starting, asking rabbis, “What differences have my journeys up made? My life gets no better!” Other stories tell of marauding enemy soldiers, thieves, expenses, famines, sickness, idolatrous syncretism, political fractures, and other social upheavals keeping worshippers home. Can you relate? How did the pilgrims overcome, how can we overcome? Finish the psalm! Keep moving. Keep singing! “…The wicked will not rule the land of the godly, for then the godly might be tempted to do wrong…” (Ps. 125:3-5). The original Jerusalem, the old City of King David, was situated on a craggy series of rocky hills. As if in a high altitude bowl it was surrounded by other rocky hills that rose several hundred feet higher than the city itself. Mt. Moriah to the north. The Mt. of Olives to the east. To the west was Mt. Zion. Rising above the Kidron Valley, the Ridge of Armon was on the south. When we read Psalm 126:2 (see also Ps. 48:1-8), “As the mountains surround Jerusalem, the Lord is all around His people,” the actual geography surrounding Jerusalem is presented. Those who trust in the Lord are as secure as Mount Zion! (Psalm 125:1) Consider the Hebrew word for trust in this verse. It creates a insightful word picture. The Hebrew word is betach and it means “to cling.” A word derived from betach is anatiyach. Anatiyach is a large melon. Compared to size of the melon, the vine on which it grows looks disproportionately small. The faith holding you may appear to be insignificant and weak, but it is God that holds you. His strength is more than enough. As we cling to Jesus, He not only holds us, He is our nourishment! (John 15:5) How do we overcome? Journey on! Keep moving! Like the faithful Hebrews did, sing the next Psalm too! Psalm 126 was composed after Israel’s seventy-year exile in Babylon. Verses 1-3 depict the exuberance of the Jews return. Sadly, when the exiles arrived, they found their temple a mess and Jerusalem in ruins. They may have been “surrounded” by God, but at the moment they also felt “surrounded” by adversity! Verses 4-6 describe how reality tempered their joy, but this did not dissuade them from singing and praying! Perhaps you can relate also relate to Psalm 126? The past six months have not been easy, but you pressed on. Recently you paused to reflect. You looked down and noticed your spiritual check engine light is on. Now what? Consider the messes and ruins COVID-19 has exposed or expedited. Sadness abounds and tragedies surround. We have big reasons to join Israel’s song, “Restore our fortunes, Lord, as streams renew the desert. Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. They weep as they go and plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest!” (Psalm 126:4-6) Before corona many Christians had already felt pushed to the margins. Now we realize just how marginalized we actually are. It is a hard reality to accept. Christians are used to sitting in the front seat of culture. Corona has revealed we are a “growing” minority. We are only 25% of the religious landscape and that number is shrinking. Some cultural elites would enjoy jettisoning Christianity entirely. Most of us embrace pro-life and traditional marriage positions. These align us with a president whose behaviors and rhetoric are embarrassing. Political and community leaders striving to defend religious liberties and practices deserve our support. It easier when their lives better lined up with the values they purport. We push ourselves further to the fringe by our doctrinal divisions, scandals, and sharing unsolicited opinions about facemasks, physical distancing, remote learning, racism, and conspiracy theories. COVID-19 has also revealed that most believers were not practicing the spiritual disciplines. In the absence of the churches gathering in buildings, many Christians discovered how unprepared they were to live as individual disciples of Jesus. They were spiritual consumers, used to others doing the heavy lifting. Unaccustomed to personal prayer, worship, study, reflection, meditation, witnessing and serving they are floundering. We may get a conservative Supreme Court, but America will continue to be post-Christian. A nation very different from what many traditionalists, Boomers (like me), and Gen-X’ers want. Maintaining a thriving walk with Jesus and keeping God’s family united and on mission are not going to be easy. In a shambled culture over which we have less “control” than we are accustomed, it is more important than ever to focus on micro disciple making—individual conversion and personal transformation, rather than macro cultural changes. Paying, as I like to say, a ridiculous amount of attention to Jesus, we can monitor our personal spiritual health and that of our families. Cooperating with the Holy Spirit and His ability to change us. When Israel returned to Jerusalem, they had a lot of work to do. Their situation screamed, “Defeat!” Israel’s conditions were cloudy, but their songs reminded them of their status! They were God’s people. He had sanctioned their return. Jerusalem and their temple would be rebuilt! Whatever “this” is, none of us are enjoying any of it. We do not like what we see. There are reasons to be deeply concerned by the direction society is going, but our status is equally clear! We are in Jesus and Jesus defeated death, hell, and the grave. He defeated “this.” His victory is our victory! Sermon-to-Life. Surrounded! How can you say “Yes,” to this message? What do we do? Toby Mac told us, “Keep walking… til the morning comes… God’s not finished yet. It ain’t over yet!” The Psalms of Ascent say the same thing. Keep moving! Keep singing! Journey up! Surrender to God, but don’t surrender your song! Where can we find a New Testament context of being surrounded? Hebrews 12:1-4, 18-29. Surrounded by those that have faithfully lived before us, we are receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken. This week I learned a very personal way that I had already been saying “Yes,” to this sermon. On Thursday I recorded a short testimonial for VCL, Victorious Christian Living. They publish SALT—The Seven Areas of Life Training discipleship books that Rocky Nystrom helped produce. Many of us have been through them. With the exception of 1985, when our daughter Kristen died, 2019 was the worse year of my life. By comparison 2020 has been a cakewalk and not because nothing bad has happened. Duh! It was as I considering what to say in my testimonial that I realized why 2020 has been “thrivable,” not just survivable. 2020 has been easy because of I learned in 2019. The SALT materials discipled me. They outfitted me to keep walking. To keep singing. Continuing my ascent, my journey up to God. Many times, in fact most of the time, people go to counselors expecting the counselor to “counsel” away or somehow “cancel” their problems. That is impossible. SALT’s materials did not change my problems. They changed me. Its applications of scripture brought healing to my broken soul. The Holy Spirit equipped me to respond to the upward call of God in Christ, to avoid the temptation to do wrong (Ps. 125:3) Reminding me that God does indeed do good to those whose hearts are in tune with Him. (Ps. 125:4). That God does indeed restore our fortunes as streams renew the desert and those who plant in tears will harvest in shouts of joy. Though weeping as they plant, they will reap in joy! (Psalm 126:4-6) .
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