Those who sow in tears will reap in joy
Notes
Transcript
WELCOME:
We had a great Thanksgiving Meal Wednesday. I really enjoyed the fellowship with this church. I am so grateful for our cooks, and just the genuine time of fellowship that we have at this church.
There will be no Wednesday night Bible study this week.
We will have a guest speaker next week. This will be the church planter who was planning to come in October. It should be a great message, so please make plans to be here and support him.
SCRIPTURE READING:
Psalm 34 “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul will make its boast in the Lord; The humble will hear it and rejoice. O magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt His name together. I sought the Lord, and He answered me, And delivered me from all my fears. They looked to Him and were radiant, And their faces will never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him And saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, And rescues them. O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! O fear the Lord, you His saints; For to those who fear Him there is no want.”
LET US STAND AND WORSHIP!
“10,000 Reasons”
Words and Music by Hillsong’
PRAYER OF PRAISE FOR WHO GOD IS
Lord, thank you for your constancy. For never turning Your back on us, for never getting frustrated with us, for forgiving our sins, for allowing us to be part of Your plan. We ask that You would look down upon this gathering of people and fill our hearts with great joy today as we focus on You. Amen!
“King of Kings”
Words and Music by Hillsong
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Words and Music by Hillsong
PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION TO OPEN OUR HEARTS
Lord, give us ears to hear Your voice and eyes to see Your glory. Would you this morning illuminate Your Word and make it known to us? Help us no to make application to others peoples’ lives, but to apply every Word to our own lives. Amen
SERMON
INTRODUCTION:
We will look at our final Psalm from our series this morning: PSALM 126. This Psalm begins with a memory of God’s redemption and the great joy that accompanied it. Then it moves to a prayer for the present, and hope for the future.
It’s a great Psalm because it accurately captures the Christian life. When God redeems us, we have this overflowing joy, great joy on our tongues, but that overflowing joy does seem to fade as time goes on, and the Christian walk becomes difficult and our walk at times becomes covered with tears. But then even in those hard times, there is hope for a bright future grounded and thats how this Psalm ends with this promise: “Those who sow in tears will reap in joy”
~PRAYER~
1) A MEMORY FROM THE PAST: THE UNBELIEVABLE JOYS OF REDEMPTION
(v 1-2) “When the Lord brought back the captive ones of Zion, We were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter And our tongue with joyful shouting;”
In order for us to understand this Psalm, we have to begin with Israel’s history and when they were taken captive and brought back to Zion
There are two times in Israel’s history they were in captivity:
The first we are familiar with: the exodus from their slavery in Egypt under the leadership of Moses.
After this first Exodus, God led Israel into the wilderness and eventually into the Promise Land.
The second exodus was around In Babylon around 538 BC:
The first few generations in the Promise Land were faithful to the Lord, but by time we come to the book of judges, we see faithfulness drift and after continued compromise God allowed pagan ruler named King Nebuchadnezzar to conquer them and carry them off into slavery in Babylon. And there in Babylon they spent 70 years enslaved, under a pagan king, and experiencing tremendous suffering and hardships.
But God is graceful and merciful. And even though Israel did not deserve to see God’s goodness toward them, God told the prophet Daniel that they would be set free after 70 years.
A Persian king by the name of Cyrus rolls into Babylon and takes over the kingdom quite easily…. And in a shocking turn of events proclaims Israel’s freedom and they are free to head back to Jerusalem to begin rebuilding.
That is where this Psalm is coming from. From the memory of those who heard those words: YOU ARE NOW SET FREE.
“When the Lord brought back the captive ones of Zion, We were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter And our tongue with joyful shouting;
This news wasn’t just good news. This was unbelievable news! It was so good Israel said it was like a dream, like a fairy tale, too good to be true!
Can you imagine being a criminal with a life sentence hanging over your head or better yet a sentence of 10 lifetimes. That is no hope in sight. You were going to die in prison or being on death row
And can you imagine being that person, knowing you are only getting what you deserve, and then one day the judge comes to you and says, I’m letting you go free today…
That is the way it was for Israel, like a dream, unimaginable joy, mouths filled with laughter, we are free
Bridge:
We may be tempted here to feel disconnected here and say well IDK what this is like because I have never been locked up! I’ve never been in prison! I have never had a life sentence of bondage…
But we all have. And many still are.
See what those Exodus stories in Scripture do is point forward to the final Exodus in Jesus Christ. Jesus said in Luke 4:18, “that He has been sent to proclaim release to the captives”…not from the concrete floors of the prisons, but from the cold death grip of sin and judgement
Luke 4:18 (NASB95)
He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed
Now if Luke 4:18 is true for you, and Christ has set you free, then you know the JOY that this Psalm is speaking of!
It is like a dream! To be led held down your whole life by the power of sin that we cannot free ourselves from, and one day, unexpectedly, by the power of God, Christ set you free and your whole life changed!
Do you remember that! Do you remember that feeling that for the first time in your life you are right with God! For the first time in your life all those sins that you could never get out of your life, THEY ARE GONE!
Do you remember the overwhelming reality that the God of the Ages had truly stepped down and touched your life and we not deserving it at all.
I know that’s what I remember. And it was unexpected for me. And it was a moment of awe and wonder. And it was a moment when I experienced God’s great love bestowed upon me, a sinner for no other reason than He simply chose me.
Application
If laughter and joy filled the mouths of these captives whom God set free from exile and gave them life again, shouldn’t we who have been set free from SO MUCH MORE and given eternal life have an even greater joy? Shouldn’t our mouths be filled with laughter and tongues with joyful shouting because of this life that God has given us?
I think that if we cannot find anything else to be thankful for, and we certainly can, and no matter how difficult life may be for us at times, this reality is always present.
How often do we stop and remind ourselves of the past, and How Lord reached down into our lives with great kindness and made us His child?
How often do we thank God for the circumstances or people that brought us to Him?
What a great thing to do this Thanksgiving.
VERSE 2-3 “Then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them. The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad”
Notice who was watching this entire event unfold here: The nations. The pagan nations all around them who worships the Baals, and who would never even consider following the Lord. They saw what God had done and who did they give glory to? “The Lord has done great things for them”. They gave glory tot he Lord.
I wonder what the people in our lives say about us. I wonder when they talk to us do they say, God has done great things for them! Or do they hear us say, “God has done great things for us”.
I wonder if they say to themselves, I would love to have what they have in Christ. I would love to have the relationship with God that they have.
OR, do they see a person who is bitter, or dissatisfied, or bored, or angry, or resentful, and say if that is what it looks like to follow the Lord, I’M OUT! Who would want that sad life!
And then I wonder, how much greater witnesses the church could be if they saw a people who rejoiced simply consistently in what the Lord has done for us?
Even this church. Look at what God has done here. I know there a thousand other churches who have so much more going on: baptisms, programs, people….but God has called you to this place to be here now and be a part of something new that He is doing here! And God so graciously allows ME to be the pastor of this church.
Shouldn’t there be joyful shouting in this place!? When people come in here shouldn’t they say, “the Lord has done great things for them”
“we are glad”
I have never heard one person ever in my life who has ever said they are sad that Christ saved them. I have never heard one person ever who said they regretted giving their life to the Lord. I have never heard one person who said, i wish I had not read the Bible, I wish I did not go to that church, I regret ever not doing things my own way.
What I do hear is people say, “we are glad”.
If you have not had this Exodus in your life from sin and death I promise you, your words will be: I AM GLAD!
2) A PRAYER FOR THE PRESENT: THAT SPIRITUAL VITALITY BE RESTORED AGAIN
(v 4) Restore our captivity, O Lord, As the streams in the South.
Explanation:
This verse is confusing in a literal translation. Because it sounds like they are asking to go back into captivity. But word “captivity” means “to turn back”.
And what they are saying is Lord, restore to us what we had in the beginning. “Restore us to our former glory”. “Make us as we were in former times”. Like when you called us out of that slavery and we headed back to Canaan, that joy that sop flow from our mouths, make us like that again!
“As the streams in the South”
The south referring to a place that was parched, barren, hot, dry, and hard.
And this prayer is that streams of water would flow here once again. That God would bring refreshment and watering to this place that had become so dry.
Bridge:
And maybe that is you today. Maybe there is a spiritual dryness in your life. Or maybe your gathering together with other believers is so routine, so mundane that it is like a dry desert.
Maybe when you open the Word of God there is no longer the excitement that there once was. Maybe you are in a dry barren place spiritually and what you needed most is to be refreshed once again.
What should we do? I think first we should do what this Psalmist did and pray. It is to cry out to the Lord and ask Him to move in our lives and refresh us, restorer us to our former glory!
But that will not happen without our own cooperation and without our own efforts.
That is we must be willing to put in the work as well (VERSE 5).
3) THE PROMISE FOR THOSE WHO SOW IN TEARS NOW WILL REAP IN JOY LATER
(v 5-6) “Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting. He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.”
Explanation:
Let’s first understand this in a literal sense: The captives were headed home, they were free, but there was no food, no harvest, and no promise of being able to take care of their families or themselves.
In order to have a harvest, they would have to till the ground, plant their seed, and wait for the Lord to bring a harvest. But all of that would require great effort and sacrifice on their part.
But I think there is more than just that here. Because this is not just about having food on the table, it is about being restored to their former glory in the Lord.
I think the point the Psalmist is making here is the steady, persistent, and often painful work that is required by these people to enjoy God’s blessing again.
They would need to put in he work to remain faithful to the Lord and not be led away by their neighbors and the culture around them.
They would need to begin sowing good deeds, faithful practices in their life now if they wanted to see fruit of this in the future.
Bridge:
How true is this of the Christian life today.
I think the longer we walk with Christ the more we see this reality in our own lives.
We want what God has for us like He gave it to us in verse: Sudden! Unexpected! Immediate! Often without pain!
When we share the gospel with someone, we want them to immediately surrender their life to Jesus, get baptized, join the church, and begin serving
When I preach sermons, I often look for immediate fruit!
Someone please wake down the isle in tears wanting to give their life to Jesus
But that’s not the way God designed this life!
The principle of sowing and reaping is not just one for the agricultural community of Palestine, but it is also the way God has designed the spiritual life
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.
In the same way this community put seed in the ground, and prayed and prayed, and waited, and prayed, and finally a sprout, and then more patience, until finally seeing a harvest, SO IT IS FOR US SPIRITUALLY!
Spiritual fruit takes time! Spiritual restoration takes time and patience. Spiritual maturity takes an investment today.
Anything that sprout up quickly rarely ever lasts!
“Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil” “But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
That is true for us personally and that is true for us corporately!
Real Spiritual fruit takes time and labor
Application
I want to apply this in two ways: To us individually and to us as a church
To us as individuals: If we do not sow spiritual seeds in our own life, we should not expect there to be any fruit!
What do I mean by spiritual seeds? I mean if we do not invest in our own spiritual growth, there will be no fruit in our lives!
If we take our walk with Christ causally, if we neglect the disciplines we know we should be doing, if we compromise our faithfulness to Jesus in any way, we should not expect any spiritual fruit.
But if we sow spiritual seeds in our life, put in the work, teach yourself to be disciplined, go as far as you can even when it causes tears to flow, YOU WILL REAP A HARVEST!
That’s not a word of hope, that is a word of promise!
“Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting.”
There will be pain
There will be work!
But there will be a harvest!
To us as a church
If we do not sow into this church, and into the life’s of others around us, and into the lives of people here, then we should not expect a harvest here either.
That is we are to take our church life seriously. We are to gather consistently. We are to give faithfully. We are to pour into the lives of others in this church continuously.
If we do that, we can expect the Lord’s blessing upon this place because He promised that those who sown in tears will reap with joyful shouting.
Just like the farmer waits for the crops to come in, so we must continue to sow the Word of God patiently, waiting on God to bring the harvest.
CONCLUSION:
CONCLUSION:
There is the former glory of the past, the need for spiritual renewal today, and the promise that if we sow into our lives, we will reap a in the future.
I don’t know where each of us is. But I do know that ALL of us are not yet at the finish line. There is always room for growth, and the willingness of God to bring about fruit in the future of our lives.
Why don’t we all make a commitment to begin sowing today so that we will reap later!
