Men And Women Of God
Preaching
THE WESLEYAN PREACHING ANNUAL 2001--2002
The late Henri Nouwen had a unique insight into the shepherding skills of a pastor, and in one of his writings he shares this:
It is not enough for the priests and ministers of the future to be moral people, well--trained, eager to help their fellow humans, and able to respond creatively to the burning issues of their time. All of that is very valuable and important, but it is not the heart of Christian leadership. The central question is, are the leaders of the future truly men and women of God, people with an ardent desire to dwell in God's presence, to listen to God's voice, to look to God's beauty, to touch God's Incarnate Word and to taste fully God's infinite goodness? (Quoted by Brian D. McLaren, Reinventing your Church, Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1998, pp. 120--21.)
Of all the books and seminars on leadership, Nouwen's question must surface again and again to claim our attention and to set our direction and priorities. It comes back, as it always does, to the question of commitment and depth - "are the leaders of the future truly men and women of God...?" The more we engage ourselves with this question, and its answer, the better equipped we will be to serve and to minister to our people. Henry T. Blackaby wrote in The Power of a Call, "As I searched through the Scripture seeking to understand what God is looking for in the one He can use, I began to sense God does not look for 'leaders,' but rather for those 'whose heart is loyal to him' " (2 Chronicles 16:9) (Henry T. Blackaby, Henry Brandt, The Power of a Call, Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1997, p. 223).
So, our first summons to leadership is to be men and women of God. To know Him in a personal way, to commune with Him, to be ready in our obedience and to give priority to our relationship with Him. We must be nothing less than Spirit--filled people. J. Oswald Sanders, in his classic, Spiritual Leadership, wrote: "Spiritual leadership requires Spirit--filled people. Other qualities are important; to be Spirit--filled is indispensable" (J. Oswald Sanders, Spiritual Leadership, Chicago: Moody Press, 1967, p. 79).
There are two emphases one needs to know, to be men and women of God. One, we must come to terms with self. To be men and women of God means we have forfeited our right to ourselves, or, as E. Stanley Jones would say, "we give up to a higher source." We do not lose anything in this submission. In fact, we submit to a higher power and benefit more from the submission than anyone. I am encouraged by something Oswald Chambers wrote years ago:
We have the notion that we can consecrate our gifts to God. You cannot consecrate what is not yours; there is only one thing you can consecrate to God, and that is your right to yourself. If you will give God your right to yourself, He will make a holy experiment out of you. God's experiments always succeed. (Quoted in Stewardship of Talent, Stan Toler, Editor, Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 1999, p. 67.)
The second emphasis is the care and nurture of our personal lives. Our prayer lives, our character and integrity, our attitudes and actions, our style, our demeanor, our study habits, all are the factors that go into our lives and manufacture the person. If any of these are weak they will weaken the entire person. A priority for the person of God is to give attention to his personal life. Blackaby reminds us that "nothing is more vital to a pastor's care of the flock than his own personal inner life" (Ibid., p. 123).
The tasks of leadership is a larger--than--life exercise. It is demanding. Without God's help we are unable to pursue the expectations of leadership. But, with His help, and our commitment to His help, we can serve in the vast arena of leadership. Let us be encouraged by something John Wesley wrote years ago:
Give me 100 preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergy or laymen, such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven on earth. God does nothing but in answer to prayer. (Quoted by John Maxwell, Partners in Prayer, Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1996, p. 7.)
C. Neil Strait
The Wesleyan Movement is an evangelical group
giving emphasis to the work of the Holy Spirit
in the life of the believer and the church.
December 2, 2001 First Sunday Of Advent
WORSHIP HELPS
CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: Jesus has come to dispel darkness.
People: May His light shine on us today.
Leader: And on all the people of the world.
People: Come light of life.
All: Let us take the light in word and deed.
OFFERING THOUGHT
Almighty God, you sent your One and only Son to us long ago, let him be born afresh in us today. We offer our everything to you as you give us your grace, mercy and strength to live life to its fullest. Glory to our God's gift! Amen.
BENEDICTION
This service has focused upon the coming of Jesus as Savior and Redeemer and that you are loved; you are forgiven; you are accepted. Go and live the life now and forever. Amen.
SERMON BRIEFS
The Great Day We Expect
Romans 13:11--14
The Apostle Paul lived and labored within the encouragement of a hope--inspiring motivation: the expected return of the Lord. He lived expecting the exalted Jesus to reappear on the horizon of time, breaking suddenly into whatever was happening in the world around him. This hope gave a sharp edge to his faith and provided strength for the living of his days. It also gave sharpness to his instructions to converts. His words here to the believers in Rome sought to strengthen their hope, quicken their expectation, and motivate them to spiritual alertness: "... our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here" (Romans 13:11c--12a). Paul's word is about the great Day we expect, and about what that expectation calls upon us to be and do.
I. A Direct and reminding word
The Apostle's message was a direct and reminding word: God has promised a great Day of fulfillment to the faithful. The Christian faith involves a process that expects a promised fulfillment. The journey of faith will see an end in which the ultimate purpose of the gospel will be experienced. This is clearly in view in those words "the day is almost here."
II. A cautioning plea for readiness
The Apostle's message included a cautioning plea for readiness: "The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber" (Romans 13:11b). The believer must not live unready and unprepared for the Lord's return.
III. A sustained morality
The Apostle's message encouraged a sustained morality as evidence of readiness to meet the expected Day of the Lord. The Church has always been cautioned to maintain a mandated morality and to react with a sense of outrage as corruption abounds in society. The first believers were aware of the wickedness around them in the Empire, and Paul's description of aspects of that wickedness is clearly stated in Romans 1:18:31. Those who lived in Rome, the center of their world, were being told to keep their distance from all God--displeasing deeds. The message addressed to believers in Rome remains the same for Christians in every place and period of time: "put aside the deeds of darkness ... behave decently" (Romans 13:12--13).
It must be said loudly, clearly, and repeatedly: The nearness of the Lord's return should never be far from our thinking and must always influence our living. Jesus voiced the promise to return in a very definite manner, and he voiced it with full knowledge about what that return will mean for all humankind. For those who have believed on him, that return will bring their ultimate salvation, while for the ungodly that return will bring upon them the ultimate wrath of an offended God. Thus the reminder to believers that "our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed."
There is a greater future within salvation than what we who believe now enjoy. As recipients of divine grace, we already know much that grace has made possible, but we have not yet experienced the ultimate that God's grace will grant. We are justified, and therefore have a new standing in God's sight. Our present experience of salvation is real, it is personal, it is engaging, but there is more to come. We are on a pilgrimage in an on--going and progressive journey. There are more benefits yet to come on the journey, but only if we "keep the faith" and let the Faith keep us. Meanwhile, refusing to slumber any longer, we must "clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 13:14), readying ourselves by his Spirit to face the demands and duties that belong to those who seek always to do God's will.
"Clothing ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ" has to do with surrendering fully to his life and Spirit, so that the moral effects of his life within us can steadily deepen and our witness in an ungodly world can steadily make its needed impact. The true believer will accept the character and claims of Jesus Christ as decisively and eagerly as someone selects clothes and dresses to meet the public and do business. Just as we attire ourselves in keeping with the places we have to go and the business we expect to handle, even so must we Christians ready ourselves to handle the business of right living. Readiness for the great Day we expect calls for that right living. It is a living, Paul explained, that does not allow "orgies and drunkenness," nor "sexual immorality and debauchery," nor "dissension and jealousy," nor thoughts "about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature" (Romans 13:14), but it is rather a life that shows forth the spirit and deportment that Jesus modeled for and makes possible by his Spirit at work in us.
Yes, "the hour has come" to be fully awake and alert as believers. It is time to renew our faith. It is time to strengthen our moral stance. It is time to free ourselves from all sleepiness of soul and sloppiness of behavior as we wait and watch for our Lord from heaven. It is time to exercise increased carefulness of heart, and to witness with a deeper determination to "overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:21). It is time to remind ourselves that our faith includes a great expectation, and to strengthen our confidence that what God has promised for our fulfillment will indeed take place. It is time to live with the promised future in our view, and ready ourselves to enter that future with joy.
James E. Massey
The Right Recipe
Psalm 122:1--9
Introduction
Have you ever tasted food from a cook whose only recipe was one in her head - one that was made up of a pinch of this, a heaping tablespoon of that, a scoop of something else? Never mind that different sized fingers might make the pinch a bit more or a bit less, and that there are tablespoons and scoops of differing sizes that would hold varying amounts of the content. That didn't seem to matter much with cooks of the past generation. Their end result was usually tasty. I say "usually" because from my childhood I remember a meal when the cook forgot the pinch of baking powder for the biscuits. Even a heavy coating of jam didn't disguise the omission.
The order of the ingredients put into the mixing bowl is important to the proper outcome. Have you ever tasted mashed potatoes when the cook failed to put the salt in before the mixing and just sprinkled a pinch of it around on the top? When I see some people salt their food before they even taste it, I wonder if they have come to think they can't ever trust the cook to have remembered to put the salt in at the proper time, or that the pinch was insufficient.
In Old Testament times the injunction was given that all men "must appear before the Lord" at the place He chose (Deuteronomy 16:16). After the conquest the place was at Shiloh, but after the temple was built in Jerusalem, all were expected to go there. It was part of the recipe for their fulfillment and happiness. For their lives to be complete they knew they needed to meet God personally.
It was not uncommon that other members of the family accompanied the male household member (1 Samuel 1--9). Most lived at some distance from the capital city and it would not have been uncommon for them to have to travel up to a week to arrive in time for the planned festival.
In the book of Psalms are found fifteen units that appear to have been used by those who trudged the dusty roads leading to Jerusalem. They are often called "Songs of Ascents." They are numbered 120 to 134. Our focus today is on Psalm 122.
I. Anticipation of worship
Though the people might well be traveling south, they never went "down" to Jerusalem. They knew they were headed for a special spiritual lift, so no matter from which direction they came, they always went "up" to Jerusalem, "up ... to praise the name of the Lord" (v. 4). They anticipated the worship of the Lord. The elevation of the spirit is always more venerating and exhilarating than an elevation in geography.
In verse 1 the psalmist says, "I rejoiced with those who said to me, 'Let us go to the house of the Lord.' " One of the special blessings of public worship is in the gathering of people of like minds, coming together for the inspiration of corporate worship. And since the sometimes--long trek to arrive at the temple could involve days of arduous travel, to make the trip in a group made the experience more meaningful. The country of Israel is a hilly country with many valleys that would be used to make travel less difficult than climbing up and down the hills, but it did make the trip more circuitous. The reasons people wanted to travel together were:
1. Safety - would be attackers would be less likely to take advantage of a number of people traveling together.
2. In case of injury or illness there were others to help.
3. Fellowship makes time seem to go faster.
4. They loved to sing these fifteen psalms as they walked along together.
But the focus of the invitation was not to go on just any trip - it was to go to Jerusalem to the house where one would seem closer to God, for His presence was thought to be more real and localized in the Holy of Holies. Travelers were anxious not to go shopping in the big city of Jerusalem, not to visit relatives who lived there, not even to stand amazed at the unique geography of the countryside, but to meet God there. They heralded aloud their purpose, "For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your prosperity" (v. 9).
Just what does the psalm writer mean by the prosperity of the house of the Lord? There is value in believers building each other up in faith, a part of the church's prosperity. But are not conversions of the unsaved and sanctification of believers also part of the prosperity of our church? I think so.
And does it not also include an inviting building that has an atmosphere that accommodates and encourages worship and fellowship? Few people feel drawn to a building that is not inviting. Who would want to eat a cake baked in an old and dilapidated container that had not been adequately cleaned and cared for?
As the pilgrims traversed the country of Israel, the sometimes--rocky paths seemed endless, but they didn't mind. They imagined themselves already there during the whole trip joyfully singing, "Our feet are standing in your gates, O Jerusalem."
II. Assurance of security
As the thousands of pilgrims made their way to Jerusalem to the temple, they not only envisioned standing within the gates of the Holy City, they were reminded of the secure walls to which the gates were attached. Archaeological excavations done in the city of Jerusalem proved that some of its walls were so strong that they had stood for 5,000 years. Also it was learned that the houses were so compact that the wall of one house was virtually the same wall as the neighbors' wall on either side. The city was indeed closely compacted together (v. 3).
While the city was crowded, it did accommodate neighborliness. In our day we have large yards, often fenced off from neighbors. This often invites isolation and seclusion. One neighbor hardly knows the persons next door. When church members are not well acquainted with neighbors, it is little wonder that an invitation to the church has little effect on them.
The psalmist saw the compactness as an asset, not a liability. Compactness was related to security. In Nehemiah's time people with houses built close together found it beneficial to work together near their homes to repair the sections of the wall nearest their houses (see Nehemiah 3:1f).
The lack of neighborliness in many communities has allowed sleazy elements, drug dealers, and other undesirable and destructive elements of society to come in and set up their nefarious activities. To turn away such activity, neighbors have often banded together by forming neighborhood watches, and working together they have made such groups leave.
III. Submission to authority
Before we can adequately lead, we must learn to follow.
Before we can effectively rule, we must learn to obey.
A worshipper can never feel fulfilled until there is a total submission to the authority of a holy God and to His sacred Word. The expectant worshippers who sang this psalm were gladly going to the house of God, not out of duty alone, but of desire. They recognized that to praise the name of the Lord was a statute that God had given to Israel (v. 4). They didn't ask, "Do I have to go to the temple again?" They wanted to go! Why? They knew God's Word is a lamp for their feet, and a light for their path (Psalm 119:105).
Speed limits, stop lights, curbs, and one--way signs are annoying to us; they slow us down, but they are there for our good. They prevent us from accident, injury, or even death, and help to insure safe arrival. So we obey them. God is the supreme authority and He knows what laws are in our best interest. One admonition for our good that applies here is, "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another" (Hebrews 10:25).
Conclusion
Balanced and blessed lives are the end result of people who consider the Bible to be a recipe book, who believe that regular corporate worship is a necessary ingredient. They find great protection against temptations that allure, but lead to distasteful and destructive outcomes. When we are aware of how blessed we are when we frequent God's house, we come to the conclusion as did the psalmist in 119:165, "Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble."
Wilbur G. Williams
It is not enough for the priests and ministers of the future to be moral people, well--trained, eager to help their fellow humans, and able to respond creatively to the burning issues of their time. All of that is very valuable and important, but it is not the heart of Christian leadership. The central question is, are the leaders of the future truly men and women of God, people with an ardent desire to dwell in God's presence, to listen to God's voice, to look to God's beauty, to touch God's Incarnate Word and to taste fully God's infinite goodness? (Quoted by Brian D. McLaren, Reinventing your Church, Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1998, pp. 120--21.)
Of all the books and seminars on leadership, Nouwen's question must surface again and again to claim our attention and to set our direction and priorities. It comes back, as it always does, to the question of commitment and depth - "are the leaders of the future truly men and women of God...?" The more we engage ourselves with this question, and its answer, the better equipped we will be to serve and to minister to our people. Henry T. Blackaby wrote in The Power of a Call, "As I searched through the Scripture seeking to understand what God is looking for in the one He can use, I began to sense God does not look for 'leaders,' but rather for those 'whose heart is loyal to him' " (2 Chronicles 16:9) (Henry T. Blackaby, Henry Brandt, The Power of a Call, Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1997, p. 223).
So, our first summons to leadership is to be men and women of God. To know Him in a personal way, to commune with Him, to be ready in our obedience and to give priority to our relationship with Him. We must be nothing less than Spirit--filled people. J. Oswald Sanders, in his classic, Spiritual Leadership, wrote: "Spiritual leadership requires Spirit--filled people. Other qualities are important; to be Spirit--filled is indispensable" (J. Oswald Sanders, Spiritual Leadership, Chicago: Moody Press, 1967, p. 79).
There are two emphases one needs to know, to be men and women of God. One, we must come to terms with self. To be men and women of God means we have forfeited our right to ourselves, or, as E. Stanley Jones would say, "we give up to a higher source." We do not lose anything in this submission. In fact, we submit to a higher power and benefit more from the submission than anyone. I am encouraged by something Oswald Chambers wrote years ago:
We have the notion that we can consecrate our gifts to God. You cannot consecrate what is not yours; there is only one thing you can consecrate to God, and that is your right to yourself. If you will give God your right to yourself, He will make a holy experiment out of you. God's experiments always succeed. (Quoted in Stewardship of Talent, Stan Toler, Editor, Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 1999, p. 67.)
The second emphasis is the care and nurture of our personal lives. Our prayer lives, our character and integrity, our attitudes and actions, our style, our demeanor, our study habits, all are the factors that go into our lives and manufacture the person. If any of these are weak they will weaken the entire person. A priority for the person of God is to give attention to his personal life. Blackaby reminds us that "nothing is more vital to a pastor's care of the flock than his own personal inner life" (Ibid., p. 123).
The tasks of leadership is a larger--than--life exercise. It is demanding. Without God's help we are unable to pursue the expectations of leadership. But, with His help, and our commitment to His help, we can serve in the vast arena of leadership. Let us be encouraged by something John Wesley wrote years ago:
Give me 100 preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergy or laymen, such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven on earth. God does nothing but in answer to prayer. (Quoted by John Maxwell, Partners in Prayer, Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1996, p. 7.)
C. Neil Strait
The Wesleyan Movement is an evangelical group
giving emphasis to the work of the Holy Spirit
in the life of the believer and the church.
December 2, 2001 First Sunday Of Advent
WORSHIP HELPS
CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: Jesus has come to dispel darkness.
People: May His light shine on us today.
Leader: And on all the people of the world.
People: Come light of life.
All: Let us take the light in word and deed.
OFFERING THOUGHT
Almighty God, you sent your One and only Son to us long ago, let him be born afresh in us today. We offer our everything to you as you give us your grace, mercy and strength to live life to its fullest. Glory to our God's gift! Amen.
BENEDICTION
This service has focused upon the coming of Jesus as Savior and Redeemer and that you are loved; you are forgiven; you are accepted. Go and live the life now and forever. Amen.
SERMON BRIEFS
The Great Day We Expect
Romans 13:11--14
The Apostle Paul lived and labored within the encouragement of a hope--inspiring motivation: the expected return of the Lord. He lived expecting the exalted Jesus to reappear on the horizon of time, breaking suddenly into whatever was happening in the world around him. This hope gave a sharp edge to his faith and provided strength for the living of his days. It also gave sharpness to his instructions to converts. His words here to the believers in Rome sought to strengthen their hope, quicken their expectation, and motivate them to spiritual alertness: "... our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here" (Romans 13:11c--12a). Paul's word is about the great Day we expect, and about what that expectation calls upon us to be and do.
I. A Direct and reminding word
The Apostle's message was a direct and reminding word: God has promised a great Day of fulfillment to the faithful. The Christian faith involves a process that expects a promised fulfillment. The journey of faith will see an end in which the ultimate purpose of the gospel will be experienced. This is clearly in view in those words "the day is almost here."
II. A cautioning plea for readiness
The Apostle's message included a cautioning plea for readiness: "The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber" (Romans 13:11b). The believer must not live unready and unprepared for the Lord's return.
III. A sustained morality
The Apostle's message encouraged a sustained morality as evidence of readiness to meet the expected Day of the Lord. The Church has always been cautioned to maintain a mandated morality and to react with a sense of outrage as corruption abounds in society. The first believers were aware of the wickedness around them in the Empire, and Paul's description of aspects of that wickedness is clearly stated in Romans 1:18:31. Those who lived in Rome, the center of their world, were being told to keep their distance from all God--displeasing deeds. The message addressed to believers in Rome remains the same for Christians in every place and period of time: "put aside the deeds of darkness ... behave decently" (Romans 13:12--13).
It must be said loudly, clearly, and repeatedly: The nearness of the Lord's return should never be far from our thinking and must always influence our living. Jesus voiced the promise to return in a very definite manner, and he voiced it with full knowledge about what that return will mean for all humankind. For those who have believed on him, that return will bring their ultimate salvation, while for the ungodly that return will bring upon them the ultimate wrath of an offended God. Thus the reminder to believers that "our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed."
There is a greater future within salvation than what we who believe now enjoy. As recipients of divine grace, we already know much that grace has made possible, but we have not yet experienced the ultimate that God's grace will grant. We are justified, and therefore have a new standing in God's sight. Our present experience of salvation is real, it is personal, it is engaging, but there is more to come. We are on a pilgrimage in an on--going and progressive journey. There are more benefits yet to come on the journey, but only if we "keep the faith" and let the Faith keep us. Meanwhile, refusing to slumber any longer, we must "clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 13:14), readying ourselves by his Spirit to face the demands and duties that belong to those who seek always to do God's will.
"Clothing ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ" has to do with surrendering fully to his life and Spirit, so that the moral effects of his life within us can steadily deepen and our witness in an ungodly world can steadily make its needed impact. The true believer will accept the character and claims of Jesus Christ as decisively and eagerly as someone selects clothes and dresses to meet the public and do business. Just as we attire ourselves in keeping with the places we have to go and the business we expect to handle, even so must we Christians ready ourselves to handle the business of right living. Readiness for the great Day we expect calls for that right living. It is a living, Paul explained, that does not allow "orgies and drunkenness," nor "sexual immorality and debauchery," nor "dissension and jealousy," nor thoughts "about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature" (Romans 13:14), but it is rather a life that shows forth the spirit and deportment that Jesus modeled for and makes possible by his Spirit at work in us.
Yes, "the hour has come" to be fully awake and alert as believers. It is time to renew our faith. It is time to strengthen our moral stance. It is time to free ourselves from all sleepiness of soul and sloppiness of behavior as we wait and watch for our Lord from heaven. It is time to exercise increased carefulness of heart, and to witness with a deeper determination to "overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:21). It is time to remind ourselves that our faith includes a great expectation, and to strengthen our confidence that what God has promised for our fulfillment will indeed take place. It is time to live with the promised future in our view, and ready ourselves to enter that future with joy.
James E. Massey
The Right Recipe
Psalm 122:1--9
Introduction
Have you ever tasted food from a cook whose only recipe was one in her head - one that was made up of a pinch of this, a heaping tablespoon of that, a scoop of something else? Never mind that different sized fingers might make the pinch a bit more or a bit less, and that there are tablespoons and scoops of differing sizes that would hold varying amounts of the content. That didn't seem to matter much with cooks of the past generation. Their end result was usually tasty. I say "usually" because from my childhood I remember a meal when the cook forgot the pinch of baking powder for the biscuits. Even a heavy coating of jam didn't disguise the omission.
The order of the ingredients put into the mixing bowl is important to the proper outcome. Have you ever tasted mashed potatoes when the cook failed to put the salt in before the mixing and just sprinkled a pinch of it around on the top? When I see some people salt their food before they even taste it, I wonder if they have come to think they can't ever trust the cook to have remembered to put the salt in at the proper time, or that the pinch was insufficient.
In Old Testament times the injunction was given that all men "must appear before the Lord" at the place He chose (Deuteronomy 16:16). After the conquest the place was at Shiloh, but after the temple was built in Jerusalem, all were expected to go there. It was part of the recipe for their fulfillment and happiness. For their lives to be complete they knew they needed to meet God personally.
It was not uncommon that other members of the family accompanied the male household member (1 Samuel 1--9). Most lived at some distance from the capital city and it would not have been uncommon for them to have to travel up to a week to arrive in time for the planned festival.
In the book of Psalms are found fifteen units that appear to have been used by those who trudged the dusty roads leading to Jerusalem. They are often called "Songs of Ascents." They are numbered 120 to 134. Our focus today is on Psalm 122.
I. Anticipation of worship
Though the people might well be traveling south, they never went "down" to Jerusalem. They knew they were headed for a special spiritual lift, so no matter from which direction they came, they always went "up" to Jerusalem, "up ... to praise the name of the Lord" (v. 4). They anticipated the worship of the Lord. The elevation of the spirit is always more venerating and exhilarating than an elevation in geography.
In verse 1 the psalmist says, "I rejoiced with those who said to me, 'Let us go to the house of the Lord.' " One of the special blessings of public worship is in the gathering of people of like minds, coming together for the inspiration of corporate worship. And since the sometimes--long trek to arrive at the temple could involve days of arduous travel, to make the trip in a group made the experience more meaningful. The country of Israel is a hilly country with many valleys that would be used to make travel less difficult than climbing up and down the hills, but it did make the trip more circuitous. The reasons people wanted to travel together were:
1. Safety - would be attackers would be less likely to take advantage of a number of people traveling together.
2. In case of injury or illness there were others to help.
3. Fellowship makes time seem to go faster.
4. They loved to sing these fifteen psalms as they walked along together.
But the focus of the invitation was not to go on just any trip - it was to go to Jerusalem to the house where one would seem closer to God, for His presence was thought to be more real and localized in the Holy of Holies. Travelers were anxious not to go shopping in the big city of Jerusalem, not to visit relatives who lived there, not even to stand amazed at the unique geography of the countryside, but to meet God there. They heralded aloud their purpose, "For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your prosperity" (v. 9).
Just what does the psalm writer mean by the prosperity of the house of the Lord? There is value in believers building each other up in faith, a part of the church's prosperity. But are not conversions of the unsaved and sanctification of believers also part of the prosperity of our church? I think so.
And does it not also include an inviting building that has an atmosphere that accommodates and encourages worship and fellowship? Few people feel drawn to a building that is not inviting. Who would want to eat a cake baked in an old and dilapidated container that had not been adequately cleaned and cared for?
As the pilgrims traversed the country of Israel, the sometimes--rocky paths seemed endless, but they didn't mind. They imagined themselves already there during the whole trip joyfully singing, "Our feet are standing in your gates, O Jerusalem."
II. Assurance of security
As the thousands of pilgrims made their way to Jerusalem to the temple, they not only envisioned standing within the gates of the Holy City, they were reminded of the secure walls to which the gates were attached. Archaeological excavations done in the city of Jerusalem proved that some of its walls were so strong that they had stood for 5,000 years. Also it was learned that the houses were so compact that the wall of one house was virtually the same wall as the neighbors' wall on either side. The city was indeed closely compacted together (v. 3).
While the city was crowded, it did accommodate neighborliness. In our day we have large yards, often fenced off from neighbors. This often invites isolation and seclusion. One neighbor hardly knows the persons next door. When church members are not well acquainted with neighbors, it is little wonder that an invitation to the church has little effect on them.
The psalmist saw the compactness as an asset, not a liability. Compactness was related to security. In Nehemiah's time people with houses built close together found it beneficial to work together near their homes to repair the sections of the wall nearest their houses (see Nehemiah 3:1f).
The lack of neighborliness in many communities has allowed sleazy elements, drug dealers, and other undesirable and destructive elements of society to come in and set up their nefarious activities. To turn away such activity, neighbors have often banded together by forming neighborhood watches, and working together they have made such groups leave.
III. Submission to authority
Before we can adequately lead, we must learn to follow.
Before we can effectively rule, we must learn to obey.
A worshipper can never feel fulfilled until there is a total submission to the authority of a holy God and to His sacred Word. The expectant worshippers who sang this psalm were gladly going to the house of God, not out of duty alone, but of desire. They recognized that to praise the name of the Lord was a statute that God had given to Israel (v. 4). They didn't ask, "Do I have to go to the temple again?" They wanted to go! Why? They knew God's Word is a lamp for their feet, and a light for their path (Psalm 119:105).
Speed limits, stop lights, curbs, and one--way signs are annoying to us; they slow us down, but they are there for our good. They prevent us from accident, injury, or even death, and help to insure safe arrival. So we obey them. God is the supreme authority and He knows what laws are in our best interest. One admonition for our good that applies here is, "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another" (Hebrews 10:25).
Conclusion
Balanced and blessed lives are the end result of people who consider the Bible to be a recipe book, who believe that regular corporate worship is a necessary ingredient. They find great protection against temptations that allure, but lead to distasteful and destructive outcomes. When we are aware of how blessed we are when we frequent God's house, we come to the conclusion as did the psalmist in 119:165, "Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble."
Wilbur G. Williams
