Psalms of Ascent

Psalm 122

The despair of living among a people who hate peace. 120

The journey begins and he expresses the confidence in God to bring us safely there. 121

The joy of arrival. 122

Trouble    120  123  126  129  132 Trust        121  124  127  130  133 Triumph   122  125  128  131  134

Present experience v. 1-5

v. 1 I was glad, I rejoiced, I celebrated, excited. I can’t wait to go to the house of the Lord. The time is finally here. There is a great sense of anticipation

v. 2 Now we are here. My feet are finally in the gates of Jerusalem. It’s as if the psalmist is saying, “I can’t believe I am finally here”. We are here together to worship God (126:1 it was like a dream come true). The joy & excitement is overwhelming for the writer. The city is now before him and the meaning of Jerusalem, the foundation of peace, he recalls that Jerusalem is God’s chosen city a city set on a hill, a beacon of God’s power and glory. He recalls the meaning of the city to every Jew as the embodiment of their hopes and aspirations. Ps. 137:5-6 “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, May my right hand forget her skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth If I do not remember you, If I do not exalt Jerusalem Above my chief joy.” Jerusalem had a mighty part in God’s plan and now he is standing in her gates.

v. 3 he says that the city compact, solid - we are so close together because the city was so tight together already. I think this also refers perhaps to the of unity of the inhabitants of the city. They are nit together closely united in purpose to worship and honor God on these three feast, the feast of unleavened bread, feast of weeks, & feast of tabernacles. We are all here for the same reason. We are here because God has decreed that we be here.

v. 4 Why are we here, so that we can give thanks to the name of the Lord

v. 5 justice was to be city or light to the world - the center for justice and truth and we are here

6-9 the future experience

The Psalmist cannot bear the thought of it not always being that way. He thinks about his brothers and sisters and he wants that experience, the same one he is having now for all of them. What does he want them to experience exactly?

peace

prosperity

he is thinking about others, I want it to always be this way so pray for peace. Worship is easier and so much better when we can offer it an atmosphere of peace. When there is no cloud of war or unrest around them. Join with me and pray for peace. only seek good things for Jerusalem. I want the generations after me to experience the same peace and prosperity I am. Not too long before this the city and it walls and the temple were all destroyed. Let’s pray that it doesn’t get like that again.

May we only seek what is good for the house of the Lord!

Application:

Are we glad to go to the house of the Lord and worship?

Ever ask someone why they don’t go to church? They’ll give you all sorts of reasons. “It’s boring. I have better things to do. I don’t like the preacher, the songs. It’s my one day to sleep in. We have sports on Sundays. We like to keep Sundays for family time. People give lots of reasons for not going to worship, but there is one overriding reason why we should go and that is God. Psalm 122 is the song of a person who decides to go and worship God.

There’s the old joke about the mother getting her son up on a Sunday morning. “Time for church,” she says. “But I don’t want to go to church,” her son replies. “No one likes me there, and the people are all mean to me. Give me one good reason why I should go.” The mother replies, “I’ll give you two good reasons. Number one, you’re 54 years old. And number two, you’re the preacher!”

When the Lord’s day comes are you glad, excited, rejoicing, celebrating? Why not? We get to worship almighty God, the creator of all things, We get to worship the Lord. We live in a world that is hostile towards God and those that love Him. There is a lack of peace in the world and we as God’s people can gather together to worship Him. How exciting. It is awesome to be here today. Brothers and sisters if you dread being here you have a heart problem. You have forgotten who God is and what he has done for you in sacrificing His Son on the cross for you. And when you are here you ought to be joyful Ps. 100 “A Psalm for Thanksgiving. Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing. Know that the Lord Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations.”

The weekly gathering of the church for worship should be one your highest priorities and one of the highest points of your week. Psalm 122 teaches us it should not simply be your duty but also your delight.

I can’t believe we are here!

What a marvelous and joyous day it is going to be. Let me just say this right here. You might need to check yourself if you all you want to do is mark this off your list and run out the door. Why is it that we can spend hours doing the most random and insignificant things but we can’t spend time with the Lord and His people?

I can’t believe we are here together

Together, what an interesting concept. Togetherness. Worship was not meant to be done in the confines of your home. We were meant to come together. from the days of the temple to the early church they came together to worship God. The church is not a building. It is not a structure of brick and mortar. The church is the assembly of Christians gathered to express that unity in Jesus and to worship Jesus. 1 Cor. 11:18 “For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part I believe it.” 1 Cor. 14:23 “Therefore if the whole church assembles together and all speak in tongues, and ungifted men or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are mad?” the preceeding verses tell us how we are to conduct ourselves in these assemblies.

Eph. 5:19 “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;” We are to speak to one another, can’t do that at home watching the computer. Col. 3:15-16 “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”

1 Cor. 14:16 “Otherwise if you bless in the spirit only, how will the one who fills the place of the ungifted say the “Amen” at your giving of thanks, since he does not know what you are saying?”

1 Tim. 4:13 “Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching.”

What about the Lord’s Supper (communion) we commune with the Lord and each other. 1 Cor. 11:26 How to you proclaim the Lord’s death if you don’t gather together to partake.

Acts 20:7 “On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight.” they gathered together, to gather together is the point

Rom. 12:4-5 “For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” together we are the body of Christ.

Hebrews 10:24–25 NASB95

and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Online worship is not worship. You cannot be obedient to this commandment of the Lord if you are not here. you can’t stimulate one another to love & you can’t stimulate one another to good deeds. You can’t encourage one another.

I can’t believe we are here together to give thanks

with anticipation and joy. What do you do when you climb a mountain – immediately turn around and go back down? No, you pause and enjoy the view. It’s why you came. Here we pause for a moment in anticipation of worshiping God together with his people. It’s like seeing the Disney sign when you get to Disney and the kids get all excited and cry out, “We’re here! We’re finally here!”

Ps. 100:4 “Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name.” Worship again is not about me its about God. It’s about the inferior worship and give thanks to the superior.

Let’s pray that it will always be this way (peace) for children and their children's children and forever more.

The longer I live and the more I see the more I realize how important this is. Churches are closing their doors all over the U.S. Fewer and fewer people are staying faithful and fighting the good fight of faith. More and more are forgetting and forsaking their commitment and devotion to God. 2 Tim. 2:2 “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” Are we really doing that? I worry sometimes that my children will have fewer and fewer places to worship and will have a harder time finding Christians who are like minded dedicated to the Lord.

Let’s seek the churches good in everything.

we need to recapture the joy of christian worship and christian fellowship. we come from different backgrounds economic levels or race. we should be bond firmly together v. 3. That is possible when our rallying cry is Jesus we can be compact together. Who called a liberal tax collector Mathew and Simon a zealot together Jesus did Mt. 10:3-4. Who brought them together. I can’t say this for sure but I like to imagine that when Jesus sends the disciples out in pairs Mk. 6:7 that he paired them two together Jn. 17:20-21 ““I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.” unity is important.

pray and work for unity - if we are not careful we will bite and devour each other over insignificant matters.

1 Peter 4:11 NASB95

Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

1 Peter 3:11 NASB95

“He must turn away from evil and do good; He must seek peace and pursue it.

Romans 12:18 NASB95

If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.

we don’t make division the focal point of our Christianity

Romans 14:19 NASB95

So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.

Ephesians 4:3 NASB95

being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

1 Thessalonians 5:13 NASB95

and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another.

division is not our identity. Over my cold dead body will we let that divisive cynical suspicious attitude take over the church that wheres the name of the prince of peace. When Paul wrote about people drawing lines of fellowship where God has not

Gal. 2:5 “But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.”

you are hindering the truth.

I want to be excited and stand in this place here with all of you, I want to be able to say I can’t believe that I am here with all of you. I want that for our sons & daughters and grandchildren. Everyday I am going to pray, may God grant peace, prosperity and long life for those that love the Lords church and seek the good of it.

Are you part of the saved, the called out, the body of Christ? There is no better people to be a part. When you are baptized into Christ you belong to a joyous people because we are saved by the blood of Jesus and we strive to follow God’s will and we gather every Lord’s day with joy and excitement in our hearts as we fellowship with our Lord and Savior and His people. We get to give thanks to Him and we pray that you and every generation after you until the Lord comes again will be able to experience this beautiful gift. Please come while we stand and sing.