Perspective
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 1 viewNotes
Transcript
Have you ever gotten your eyes on all the things around you...
- Maybe things you don’t have...
- The ways others prosper...
- How those who are sinful and evil seem to gain wealth and power and have no account for it...
There is a person in the Bible, we know very little about - his name is ASAPH -
We know he was a musician, and wrote several Psalms.
We know he was hired by David and appointed to oversee the music and worship in the Kingdom… he head position...
He sang at the dedication of Solomon’s Temple
We might say he was a worship rock star in his day!
Yet, when we look at Psalm 73 we see a man frustrated at the prosperity of those who live in sin and wickedness before God
Perhaps a little jealous, perhaps a little wondering how the Lord could allow those who revile Him and ignore His paths and truth to have such amazing lives.
I honestly think Christians do the same thing today.
Why?
Because so many are trying to emulate what the successful and wealthy, and sinful of our day do!
We look at their lives and say they are having all the fun!
Asaph helps us to come back and remember the truth and gain back a right perspective.
Turn with me to
A psalm of Asaph.
1 Truly God is good to Israel, to those whose hearts are pure.
2 But as for me, I almost lost my footing. My feet were slipping, and I was almost gone.
3 For I envied the proud when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness.
4 They seem to live such painless lives; their bodies are so healthy and strong.
5 They don’t have troubles like other people; they’re not plagued with problems like everyone else.
6 They wear pride like a jeweled necklace and clothe themselves with cruelty.
7 These fat cats have everything their hearts could ever wish for!
8 They scoff and speak only evil; in their pride they seek to crush others.
9 They boast against the very heavens, and their words strut throughout the earth.
10 And so the people are dismayed and confused, drinking in all their words.
11 “What does God know?” they ask. “Does the Most High even know what’s happening?”
12 Look at these wicked people— enjoying a life of ease while their riches multiply.
13 Did I keep my heart pure for nothing? Did I keep myself innocent for no reason?
14 I get nothing but trouble all day long; every morning brings me pain.
15 If I had really spoken this way to others, I would have been a traitor to your people.
16 So I tried to understand why the wicked prosper. But what a difficult task it is!
17 Then I went into your sanctuary, O God, and I finally understood the destiny of the wicked.
18 Truly, you put them on a slippery path and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction.
19 In an instant they are destroyed, completely swept away by terrors.
20 When you arise, O Lord, you will laugh at their silly ideas as a person laughs at dreams in the morning.
21 Then I realized that my heart was bitter, and I was all torn up inside.
22 I was so foolish and ignorant— I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you.
23 Yet I still belong to you; you hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth.
26 My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.
27 Those who desert him will perish, for you destroy those who abandon you.
28 But as for me, how good it is to be near God! I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter, and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do.
1. Don’t be Jealous
1. Don’t be Jealous
Asaph realizes he almost slipped away from his faith in the Lord because he envied the proud and prosperous of this world.
Look at v. 2-9
Fat cats who have everything their hearts could ever wish or
in their pride they crush others
They do not seem to have pain or suffer, they are strong and don’t have problems...
It is so easy for us to look at SUCCESS — WORLDLY SUCCESS and want what others have.
17 “You must not covet your neighbor’s house. You must not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.”
The final commandment is a reminder to NOT COVET what someone else has!
Social media has made it an obsession! Everyone wants their own viral TIK TOK so they can have a piece of the pie and recognition.
Christians, who have JESUS, find their hearts deceived by the success and temporal ease of this world ....
V. 11 says the people (God’s People) are dismayed and confused that God would allow this.
13 Did I keep my heart pure for nothing? Did I keep myself innocent for no reason?
14 I get nothing but trouble all day long; every morning brings me pain.
This is the heart of one coveting for the life, things, sinful pleasures others are experiencing!
It is a sinful attitude!
2. Created for Greater Things
2. Created for Greater Things
We are not of this world, we are created for greater things in Jesus Christ.
8 It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going.
9 And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise.
10 Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.
11 It was by faith that even Sarah was able to have a child, though she was barren and was too old. She believed that God would keep his promise.
12 And so a whole nation came from this one man who was as good as dead—a nation with so many people that, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore, there is no way to count them.
13 All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth.
14 Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own.
15 If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back.
16 But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
11 Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls.
The reality that this world is NOT OUR HOME, and that unlike those who live for today, we have a greater tomorrow and still enjoy the favor of God on this earth - we are heirs of an inheritance.
The writer of Hebrews reminds us that the we live by faith and focus on what is to come — those are things eternal and this world is temporary.
The wicked may have all their fill of this earth today, but it ends there!
17 Then I went into your sanctuary, O God, and I finally understood the destiny of the wicked.
18 Truly, you put them on a slippery path and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction.
19 In an instant they are destroyed, completely swept away by terrors.
20 When you arise, O Lord, you will laugh at their silly ideas as a person laughs at dreams in the morning.
21 Then I realized that my heart was bitter, and I was all torn up inside.
22 I was so foolish and ignorant— I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you.
23 Yet I still belong to you; you hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny.
Their life will end HERE, ours is just beginning.
The Lord is with me in this life YES - but there is still a greater and glorious destiny that awaits my life in the next.
THis verse has dual meaning, in that there is a greater destiny to come, but there is also a glorious outcome in this earth as well ---
GOD IS UPHOLDING US
GOD IS GUIDING US
GOD IS HOLDING ONTO US
in verse 28 he proclaims how good is it to be near GOD!
Asaph also corrects himself and refers to himself (v 23) as a senseless animal
An animal lives for the moment without fear of consequence - it does what fulfills his flesh and lusty desires.
(We often say our poodle has no shame, she has habits she will not break from - one of those is eating tissue --- a napkin, a box of kleenex, the roll in the bathroom) if it is available to her she is shameless to fulfill her desire no matter what trouble she gets into.
Asaph realizes - I am not a senseless animal - I have reason to understand I have a greater destiny and I can choose faithfulness to that hope!!!!
Christian, you don’t have to yield to sin and pleasure and pursue the stuff of this world — you are not an animal - remind yourself that
GOD upholds you
GOD guides you
GOD is holding onto you
YOU ARE CREATED FOR MORE!
3. God is Our Portion
3. God is Our Portion
25 Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You.
26 My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
25 You’re all I want in heaven! You’re all I want on earth!
26 When my skin sags and my bones get brittle, God is rock-firm and faithful.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth.
26 My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.
Three statements that GOD is faithful and ours....
THe Hebrew word for portion - or mine forever is CHELEQ (Kay lek)
PORTION is the best translation for this word...
IT means our share in the inheritance!!!
When people on this earth seem to be getting their stuff and inheritances and rewards on this earth --- ASAPH reminds us
GOD is our PORTION
GOD is our ETERNAL Destination
GOD is our ETERNAL Provision
Jesus reinforces this when he said...
19 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal.
20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.
Paul writes...
19 By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life.
The portion we have in eternity is so much greater than the pleasure on this earth!
That portion is OURS FOREVER!!!
Temporal pleasure on this earth will lead to destruction
18 Truly, you put them on a slippery path and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction.
19 In an instant they are destroyed, completely swept away by terrors.
but what we receive is ENDURING!!!
18 So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.
We have a PORTION FOREVER!!!
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
So Christian,
Realize it is human to think like ASAPH and look at what the wicked around us have and prosper in...
It is DIVINE to realize their end is destruction and ours is INHERITANCE
Do not bet tempted to lose faith, yield to sin or become covetous when what you have is more real, more valuable and lasts forever!