The Helper, Creator, Guardian, Protector and Keeper

Introduction

I have a strong dislike for sermons that paint the pastoral ministry as the world’s toughest, loneliest, most thankless, highest stress inducing, and/or terribly soul crushing job.

To be fair, we have all probably gone through incredibly challenging seasons when it comes to ministry.

But, sermons that focus on the great difficulties of pastoral ministry strike me as trying to place ourselves under the altar with the martyrs of Revelation 6.

That being said, I recently preached a sermon series focusing on biblical church leadership and a couple of items stood out to me in my research:

In their new book, The Great Dechurching, authors Jim Davis and Michael Graham share the alarming statistic that about “40 million adults in America today used to go to church but no longer do, which accounts for around 16 percent of our adult population.”

They go on to state that, “More people have left the church in the last twenty-five years than all the new people who became Christians from the First Great Awakening Second Great Awakening, and Billy Graham crusades combined.”

If that isn’t troubling enough, a recent Barna survey found that 38% of pastors have seriously considered quitting ministry within the last year.

Additionally, the median age of a pastor has jumped from 50 years old in 2000, to 57 years old today. Telling us that not nearly enough younger pastors are entering the pastorate.

When I was in seminary, during my pastoral ministry class...

I often think about our bi-vocational pastors; which anyone here who has even been bi-vocational understands means you are paid part-time, but you work full-time for the church and full-time for your job. Most bi-vocational pastors are only part-time when it comes to getting sleep!

Bi-vocational ministry can be lonely, frustrating and overwhelming, especially in troubling times.

Then, to add to all of this, we have an economy on the brink of disaster, a world that seems to be nearing numerous large-scale wars, and political and cultural divisions as ugly as I’ve seen in my lifetime.

All of this to say, we are in the midst of challenging times for the church in America.

So what is a church leader to do?

The same thing that God has always told His people to do in the midst of troubling times: turn our eyes and our hearts to the One who is always faithful to His people in the midst of troubling times!

Body: Psalm 121

This is one of the Songs of Ascents

They are a collection of fifteen songs that were sung by pilgrims heading to Jerusalem to celebrate one of the festivals.

I imagine this particular song was sung as the people neared Mt. Zion, seeing the city of Jerusalem in the distance.

Verses 1-2

This psalm starts with a question, probably asked by the worshiper.

Upon looking at Mt. Zion, they are to remember where their help truly comes from.

Why do they help?

Immediately, they often journeyed long distances, through difficult terrain and sometimes on dangerous pathways, to arrive at Jerusalem.

But, probably more applicable, it’s the help that they constantly needed. The big things and the little things. The major life-altering challenges and the everyday mundane obstacles. All of it.

So, where does that help come from? The answer is found in verse 2: Their Helper is the Creator.

While the world at large looks to the creation for answers, God’s people look instead to the Creator of all things.

Verses 3-4

Their Helper is the Guardian.

He will not let your foot be moved.

The immediate context probably focuses on the rocky ground found throughout the Promised Land. However, the larger picture is of God as the helper who is constantly aware.

Notice that it says that God does not slumber or sleep. He is constantly aware of what’s going on.

He’s like a guard, always on the watch for dangers.

Alexander the Great was once asked how he could sleep soundly when he was surrounded by so many people who wanted to kill him. He replied that Parmenio, his guard, was always watching.

The LORD doesn’t slumber or sleep; He is always watching after His people.

Verses 5-6

Their Helper is the Protector.

When the psalmist says that the LORD is your shade on your right hand, the focus is the dangers of the sun, especially when traveling long distances.

He is the ever present protector, protecting from the great dangers to His people.

At this point, one might say, “Wait a minute! Are you suggesting that if a person follows the Lord, then he or she will never be in danger? That doesn’t seem to bare out in history.”

That statement would be true if all we had was this life. If all we lived for was worldly success, profit, happiness, comfort, etc., then yes, I’d find this psalm lacking.

However, once we understand that the security we have with God as our Guardian and Protector has little to do with our worldly comfort, leisure and pleasure, and much more to do with our eternal spiritual security and His nearness to us in the midst of tribulation. We begin to realize that everything we experience in this life can be used for His glory and our good, and even the worst-case-scenario isn’t the worst-case-scenario for those who are in Christ.

I like how James Boice puts it: “The point of Psalm 121 is not that we will not have problems, but that God will keep us safe as we go through them.

Paul says it much better than Boice or I can:

Romans 8:35–39 ESV

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Verses 7-8

Their Helper is the Keeper.

The Hebrew word shamar is used six times in these eight verses and is translated as he who keeps you, he who keeps Israel, your keeper, will keep you or your life.

Consider what it means to be a keeper of something or someone.

A keeper is attentive; He watches over; He prevents; He maintains.

In these verses alone the keeper:

Keeps you from all evil; Keeps your life; Keep your going our and your coming in (i.e. all the places your go and stay).

The good news for all believers here is this: God alone is able to be that Keeper for us!

Jude 24–25 ESV

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

So What?

Ministry leaders, we must never lose sight of this truth:

Jesus is our Helper

Jesus is our Creator;

Jesus is our Guardian

Jesus is our Protector

Jesus is our Keeper

I’m preaching to ministry leaders this evening, so we know this. However:

We have to do more than know this: we must believe this!

I’ve found, when I’m being very honest, that I’m pretty good at knowing what is right. The challenge comes with truly believing it to the point where it makes a significant impact in my outlook and my behaviors.

I’ve talked to a number of people recently about the difference in knowing the Gospel, and really believing that the Gospel is so vital to everything in my life that it changes everything.

Most of my church knows the Gospel. But, unfortunately, we struggle with believing it so much that everything else is minimized in light of Gospel-centric living.

I love to point out to my people that Greek word for faith, πιστός...

It’s different that what most people think of when they think about faith...

True πιστός faith is a call to trust so deeply, that everything else is minimized because of that faith.

I think about Peter here...

In the midst of trying times, we must have trust in Jesus as our true Helper, Creator, Guardian, Protector, and Keeper.

We must celebrate this!

We know that the Psalms are songs. The beauty of the Psalms are that they cover the entire gambit of human emotion and experience. From sorrow and mourning, to joy and happiness.

Psalm 121 is a psalm of confidence in the LORD, but also a psalm of celebrating having a God as our Helper, Creator, Guardian, Protector, and Keeper.

Notice in this psalm that it doesn’t saying, “If you feel up to it...” “If things are going well for you...” “If all the pieces are falling into place...” then see the LORD as your Helper, Creator, Guardian, Protector and Keeper.

Nope. Our circumstances don’t change God’s nature.

And because we are His, even in the darkest of times, we can praise Him.

Some of my favor parts of the NT letters are when Paul breaks out into praise.

What’s particularly telling about those times is the realization that Paul was likely in prison during those times...

2 Timothy 1:12 (ESV)

But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.

How do you celebrate the fact that Jesus is your Helper, Creator, Guardian, Protector and Keeper?

We must help our people to believe this!

When we truly believe this it becomes easier to help our people to believe it as well. So we start there.

But, we must help our people to believe; to have πιστός faith; that Jesus is their Helper, Creator, Guardian, Protector, and Keeper.

Going back to the shocking statistics that I shared at the beginning of this message: 40 million adults have left the church.

That’s nearly three times more people than live in the PNW. It’s more than the total population of California, the most populous state in the US.

And while some might argue, “That just means they are leaving the church, not the Christian faith,” I would argue that I have never seen someone leave the church who continues in the faith for very long afterward.

It’s why we must set before our people the desperate need to look to Jesus as the Helper, Creator, Guardian, Protector and Keeper.

Despite our circumstances, our lives must be arrows pointing our people to Him.