Psalm 24
Notes
Transcript
Announcements
Connect Card
Gateway Campout
Weston sermon
Tabitha - Women’s Prayer Meeting
Prayer - Sumner - City Government
Intro
Last Sunday after the campout, Morgan and I got to go to a wedding.
It was up in Woodinville.
We thought we were being super safe leaving at 3pm for a 4:30 wedding.
We were not.
You know when you look on your ETA on Google Maps and it starts climbing? It started out at 4:10pm, then 4:15, 4:20, oh we’re gonna be late.
Traffic was silly.
We get to the venue, ask a couple employees where to go, go through the right door but thought it was the wrong door, go up some stairs, through a ballroom, out a door, up the trail…
And there we see the whole bridal party, already waiting in line.
And there’s Kara, waving at us!
She waves us by, we scoot past, trying not to fall into some coy pond that was narrowly between us and them.
We huff and puff and sit in our seats, the very last people to arrive.
You ever been late to a wedding?
You feel silly.
It’s wrong.
This is not about me, it’s about her. If people are looking at me, something has gone awry!
We have one job. Don’t be seen, but when she comes, stand and look at her!
Ps. 24. in a sense, is a wedding Psalm.
Not for a man and a woman, but for God and his people.
Like “bum bum bu dum” it’s a song for an occasion, when the King of glory comes.
What does it mean that this Psalm tells doors and gates to lift up their heads?
How does this point us to Jesus and what does this have to do with life today?
Ps. 24 is broken out into three pretty easily defined sections and we’ll phrase them as questions
Verses 1-2 ask who rules the world?
Verse 3-6 asks who ascends?
And verses 7-10 ask who is this king?
Who rules the world? (v. 1-2)
1 The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein,
2 for he has founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
Who rules the world? God does. He owns it because he made it.
I enjoy using ChatGPT.
It’s so powerful and helpful with certain tasks.
But ChatGPT is already rewiring my brain to crave speed and efficiency even more. I want more. I want to do more. And I want more now.
In an age of ChatGPT, we need the Psalms.
The Psalms save us from becoming slaves to productivity and help us remember that there is more to life than doing more.
To slow down and remember we are tiny humans and we serve a big God who owns all and made all. And our one job is to worship him. And sing to him.
It’s no wonder that Jesus quoted the Psalms more than any other book in the Old Testament.
They help us see this reality in verses 1 and 2 - it’s all about God!
Look at verse 1
The earth - or the land.
Mount Rainier. The Knutsons corn field next to my house. South Hill. Everything, everywhere
Is
The LORD’s. Yahweh’s.
Anything you can think of - elephants, caves, the galapagos islands, they’re his.
The world -
AND, all the people. They’re his.
Jews. Philistines. Americans. Russians.
His.
Everything.
What’s in your hands right now? That’s his. The person behind you? His. The connect card in the seats. His. Your house. His. My life. His.
Why does he own the world?
He made it.
He set the land on the waters.
In the ancient world, water was chaos and an enemy.
God subdued the great seas and rivers and set the world in place. Nothing compares to him.
Creation is an act of victory on God’s part. Showing his power.
Think about it, God set Mt. Rainier in place.
This was the source of Israel’s pride.
It was their God who did this. YHWH. The one who saved them and made a covenant with them and gave them his word. Their God.
Why does this Psalm begin with this kind of praise?
One possibility is this Psalm was written by David when the ark of the covenant came into Jerusalem in 2 Sam. 6.
The ark was the symbol of God’s covenant with Israel. In it were the very words of God which God gave to Moses and the people after he saved them from Egypt.
The ark coming into Jerusalem was like the culminating moment of Israel’s story.
It was the finale!
It’s the bride coming down the aisle.
God has done what he promised. He has made Israel into a great nation, he has given them a land, and now he’s given us David and he is going to dwell with us forever.
And it says in 2 Sam. 6 that there is shouting and singing and music. Why? The God who owns all and made all is coming to be with his people.
We’re excited because of him!
Just like at a wedding
The joy of the moment is that the bride has come. It’s her show!
What would change this morning if you remembered your life is not about you?
God owns all. He made it all.
I’m a creature. I’m small.
What a relief! ChatGPT tells me I can do more and more and it is draining our souls. What a relief when we remember God is the owner and maker of all, and we were never made to do it all.
TRANSITION - Who rules? God. He’s the owner and maker of all. And he wants to be with his people. Who gets to be with him?
Who ascends? (v. 3-6)
3 Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
I have never climbed a mountain.
I’ve hiked Mt. Peak. So, maybe that counts.
Mountains were holy places. God dwells on some holy mountain. Jerusalem was a fitting city for God to dwell, it was on a hill.
So to climb God’s mountain is to say who is worthy to be with God?
What kind of strength does it take?
Who gets to make it to the top?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to what is false
and does not swear deceitfully.
Climbing the mountain doesn’t take crampons or an ice pick.
It takes holiness.
Clean hands is a picture of a moral and righteous life. It’s right behavior.
A pure heart means someone who doesn’t just do good but they do good for the right reasons.
It’s a right inner life.
Look at the second half of verse 4 -
This person does not lift up their soul to what is false.
To lift up your soul is to give yourself to something.
4 Gladden the soul of your servant,
for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
God wants to dwell with those who worship him and him alone.
This was first commandment for Israel. No idols!
Such a person, says verse 5, will receive blessings from God.
And this was the promise of the covenant with Israel. What was placed in the ark.
If you live with clean hands and a pure heart and don’t worship idols, I will bless you!
Verse 6 says that’s what God’s people are to be like.
Those who seek him, search for him, pursue him.
5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
This was God’s call for his people.
Who can ascend the hill? A true Israelite!
What we need is a true and faithful Israelite.
Anyone?
We know from 2 Sam. 6 that to dwell with God is a dangerous thing.
A man name Uzzah reaches out and touches the ark as it comes into Jerusalem and God kills him.
The context of that is even in Israel’s excitement of God coming to be with them, they did not obey God’s law in how they were supposed to carry the ark.
Only the Levites were supposed to carry the arks on poles.
The Israelites just had a couple non-Levites carry it on a cart, because that was how the Philistines did it.
So even in their worship of God, Israel was failing.
Even at this great moment in Israel’s history, there was sin.
Even at our best moments in life, we are tainted with sin!
And what do we know from the story of the Bible? It only got worse.
It got so bad that after hundreds of years of disobeying him, failing to be people of clean hands and pure hearts, God kicked them off Jerusalem, his holy mountain.
Who can ascend the hill? Only a true Israelite. And for generations, none could be found.
The early church read Psalm 24 as a song pointing to the ascension of Christ.
Celebrating the ascension of Christ.
The only one who could ascend the hill of God was Jesus.
The gospel is this: no one can ascend the hill. So God came down as a man to do what we could never do.
In Jesus, God came, he lived as the true Israelite no human could ever be with clean hands and pure heart, never lifted up his soul to what was false.
He died in our place to pay the penalty for our sins and to enact a new covenant with us and God, not based on our works, but his sinless life.
But he didn’t only die, he rose again, and ascended the highest hill to the right hand of the Father where he reigns as the King of the universe.
Who can ascend the hill? Only Jesus.
Our hands are dirty. His are clean.
Are hearts are impure. His is pure.
We worship idols. He worshiped God.
And through faith in him, we are given every blessing, we are given his righteousness, and we are saved.
Church is not about doing better for God.
We could never be good enough. We could never ascend the hill.
That’s why he sent Jesus. Who ascended and reigns over all.
TRANSITION - So what do we do?
Who is this King? (v. 7-10)
7 Lift up your heads, O gates!
And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
What we do is we lift our heads to receive the king of Glory.
Where do we see that?
Picture the ark of the covenant coming into Jerusalem and this song playing.
Imagine the gates of Jerusalem and creaky doors opened as those carrying the ark were celebrated and music played.
The ark - the symbol of God’s covenant, a picture of his love - is here! God himself is here to live with us.
It’s the Garden of Eden restored!
God is with us.
But the call is not just for gates and doors, it’s for people!
7 Wake up, you sleepyhead city!
Wake up, you sleepyhead people!
King-Glory is ready to enter.
God is here. Don’t be a walled off city, open your doors because God wants to dwell with you.
Turn from idols, turn from sin, get ready. The bride is here, turn and stand and look!
Because he is the king of glory
Glory is weight. Significance.
Something that makes your jaw drop. If a sunset is glorious, you can’t take your eyes off it. How much more so the one who made the sun and the sunset?
8 Who is this King of glory?
The Lord, strong and mighty,
the Lord, mighty in battle!
9 Lift up your heads, O gates!
And lift them up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
10 Who is this King of glory?
The Lord of hosts,
he is the King of glory! Selah
He’s not just the king of glory, he’s the Lord of hosts.
He’s the king of the angel armies.
He’s the one who has defeated his enemies.
He doesn’t just have more swords and chariots, he can win battles against unseen forces and gods.
Picture David in these verses leading a call and response worship with the people of God as the ark of the covenant is carried in.
Who is this king of glory?
The people say, The LORD of hosts!
You don’t want to be late to a wedding .
While you don’t want to miss the reception, and you don’t want to miss the announcement of husband and wife, the real moment is when the bride comes down the aisle.
Everyone turns.
She gets everyone’s attention.
Everyone smiles.
It’s the whole reason we are there because she is here.
In the same way, Psalm 24 says people of God, lift up your eyes, the King is here!
The apostle Paul in his letter to the Colossians puts it this way…
1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
Our whole lives are meant to be lived like guests at the wedding - bearing witness to the King of Glory.
Jesus, who came, died, rose again, and ascended to heaven and now fills everything, and sent his Holy Spirit to fill his people.
What are you setting your mind on this morning? What are you lifting your eyes towards? Yourself?
It’s like being late to the wedding and the bride looking at you, it’s wrong!
Look to him.
Conclusion
Psalm 24 is a song that rewires our hearts to remember
God is the creator and owner of all.
Which means that I’m not. What a relief!
Jesus ascended the hill that we never could
We can live with God not because of our goodness, but because of his!
And now we look to him, the king of Glory who has come to be with us.
The King of Glory is here, so let’s celebrate.
When you go to a wedding, that’s your one job as a guest. Celebrate. It’s not your show. We simply are invited to bear witness to the bride, smile, dance, tell her how amazing she is and how thankful we are to be there with her.
Our job is to get to our seat, and be looking for her, and when she comes, to stand and honor her.
How much more so with Jesus and our entire lives.
The celebration of a wedding points to something more.
Wedding invites come and go. We put on the nice shirt and then we throw it in the laundry. They don’t satisfy or fulfill us.
They point to the greater joy that we were all made for: celebrating God come to be with us.
In 2 Sam. 6, a small nation of Israel in the middle East celebrates that God had come to live with them.
After Uzzah dies, David is so fearful to be in the presence of a Holy God that he sends the ark away to a foreigner, and it says that God blessed that man and his household. Why? Because God was with him.
How much more so with Jesus?
The greatest celebration and blessing of our little human lives is to be with the King of Glory.
Because of Jesus, his life, death, resurrection, and ascension, God has come to live with anyone who opens their door to him.
Have you done that?
Are you a walled off castle? An impenetrable fortress? Or maybe you’ve seen the joy that someone in your life has because they have God with them, and you’re ready to say, I want what they have?
If there was a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being I have no joy or happiness that comes from the reality that God is with me, where would you be?
If you know the story of 2 Sam. 6, David was about a 9.5. He is so excited that God has come to be with Israel, that he sings and dances and plays songs, he’s worshiping God, offering sacrifices, his whole world is centered around the joy that God is with him.
He’s like your drunk uncle at the wedding.
His own wife ridicules him.
But David says, I’m celebrating because God is here.
Where are you?
How much more can we celebrate because of Jesus?
He’s the owner and creator of all.
The Son of God.
The one who says the church is my body.
The one who went through unimaginable suffering to save us.
The one who beat death by his death and resurrection.
The one who is seated at the right hand of God.
The one who has been given all authority in heaven and earth.
How do we become more like David?
Lift up your heads and look at Jesus.
I’ve been enjoying a book called Letters from John Newton.
It’s a collection of pastoral letters from John Newton, the pastor and writer of the song Amazing Grace.
Here’s what he had to say.
“So, if obedience be the thing in question, looking unto Jesus is the object that melts the soul into love and gratitude; and those who greatly love, and are greatly obliged find obedience easy. When Jesus is upon our thoughts, either in his humbled or his exalted state, either as bleeding on the cross, or as worshipped in our nature by all the host of heaven, then we can ask the apostle’s question with a becoming disdain, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” God forbid! What! Shall I sin against my Lord, my Love, my Friend, who once died for my sins, and now lives and reigns on my behalf; who supports, and leads, and guides and feeds me every day? God forbid. No; rather I would wish for a thousand hands and eyes, and feet, and tongues for ten thousand lives that I might devote them all to his service. He should have all then; and surely He shall have all now. Alas, that in spite of myself there still remains something that resists his will! but I long and pray for its destruction; and I see a day coming when my wish shall be accomplished, and I shall be wholly and forever the Lord’s.” - Letters from John Newton, 31-32
What would it look like for you?
Maybe something for you has to change on Sunday mornings so you can celebrate the reality that God is with us in a unique way when we worship. To be ready on Sundays to celebrate with his people. What would that look like?
Maybe you need to remember that you can glorify God and celebrate him just as much on Monday at your job. And being a faithful Christian who is excellent at their work is a way to celebrate the ascension of Jesus.
Maybe you need to remember the greatest blessing of anyone’s household is not a low interest rate, growing value in your home, or an updated kitchen, but that God is with them.
Maybe it’s an action. God is calling you to celebrate the reality that he’s with you by caring for someone, calling someone, discipling someone, encouraging someone.
David danced. What are you going to do?
