Sermon Tone Analysis

Sometimes, it’s good to start at the very beginning; I’m told “it’s a very good place to start.”

But there are other times when it’s helpful to start at the end and work your way back.

Start with what’s clear.

Start with what you know.

Now Psalm 19 isn’t difficult to understand.

It’s pretty straightforward.

What’s confusing about this psalm is how it fits together.

Several scholars argue that this is actually part of two different songs.

“Verses 1-6 are clearly one psalm,” they say, “and verses 7-14 another.”

I had a hard time with that line of thought; granted the men and women who assert such things are much more educated and much, much smarter than this guy, but I couldn’t shake the thought that these two seemingly different parts had to go together somehow, that this had to be one psalm.

One Bible professor, J. L. Mays, gives a very helpful tip for the study of Psalm 19.

He suggests that we start with the end, with the confession of faith in verse 14 where David says:

The words and meditation contained in this psalm, then, seem to compose an act of worship to the Lord Yahweh.

This psalm, this song of worship, starts at the top—David, in awesome wonder, looks heavenward and worships the Creator as he views the visible and extraordinary creation around him.

After that, David comes down, so to speak, to proclaim the glories of the Lord’s verbal revelation (no Bible was compiled yet, so David sings to the Lord because of the Lord’s powerful words spoken to His people).

And then, as is fitting, David expresses the urgent need of his own soul in light of the creation and word of God.

It’s worship “from the top down”, this psalm.

It’s worship; it’s seeing and hearing and speaking.

The great literary master, C.S. Lewis, called Psalm 19 “the greatest poem in the Psalter and one of the greatest lyrics in the world.”

It’s easy to see why:

SEE

I love the psalms for so many reasons, but maybe none more than the fact that they draw my attention to what I tend to ignore.

The heavens keep reciting the glory of God and go on highlighting the works of His hands.

And yet we miss it, don’t we?

The old expression goes, “Stop and smell the roses.”

That’s pretty good advice, and it’s the same principle.

David would have us “stop and see, stop and look up.”

Go outside and look up more often than when there’s a solar eclipse or super moon; look at the heavens and ponder the God who placed all of it there.

Attempt, with your finite brain, to comprehend the Creator of all things, the Architect of the cosmos who spoke into existence all you can see and all the many light-years worth of territory you and I will never lay eyes upon.

Ponder.

Wonder.

Worship.

Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above, their dance cards are full, always in their scheduled spot or waltzing across the sky, whatever the Lord tells them to do, wherever He tells them to go.

Ponder.

Wonder.

Worship.

And realize: “all this vast, enduring monument to the creative power and art of God is but child’s play to the divine Creator - spun off the tips of His finger without even breaking a sweat.”

The heavens declare the glory of God...

The root of the word glory has to do with weight, and so to use it of a person could refer to someone who is weighty—important, impressive.

The heavens tell us how weighty and impressive God is.

And the skies proclaim the work of His hands...

Power and ability, care and precision.

Intricacy.

God spoke and in that instant: Light.

Sky.

Water.

Land.

Sun.

Moon.

Stars.

Fish.

Birds.

Animals.

Man.

Everything just exactly as He wanted.

It was perfect.

It was good.

The heavens declare…the skies proclaim...

This cosmic preaching goes on repeatedly.

God has clicked “play” and “repeat all” on the soundtrack of the heavens.

And so it is.

The heavens are declaring.

The skies are proclaiming.

It’s their task.

Their job.

Their commission.

They were created for just exactly this.

And they never stop.

Day after day they pour forth speech...

The heavens and skies are simply bursting at the seams to tell us of their Maker and they keep pumping out testimony about Him.

The heavens and the skies bubble-up with praise.

“Creation cannot contain itself, but constantly proclaims the glory of God.”

[Show first picture on the screen; Jimmy’s testimony]

The heavens, in fact all of creation has a lot to say.

They won’t shut up about it.

They keep on yapping, proclaiming, declaring.

Strange thing is: it’s totally silent.

The heavens are proclaiming, but they can’t verbalize anything.

They aren’t speaking aloud.

And yet, we read,

There are no words (v. 3) and yet their words [go out] to the ends of the world.

I think the psalmist is trying to make us think.

It shouldn’t trouble us when the psalm says there are no words and then says that there are.

Another way to describe this would be “non-verbal communication”—mute communication that still communicates.

It’s the sort of thing that happens when you’re married for a few years.

You might be out to dinner with some friends, and without her saying a word, you know it’s time to leave.

It might be a glance, a look, or maybe a hand on the knee.

Meghann and I started communicating somehow unintentionally with our own form of Morse Code.

I’ll be sitting with my arm around her and she might tap twice on my leg, meaning ‘Let’s go.’

And I’ll know it’s time to head out.

Sometimes she’ll tap three times, and I know that means ‘I love you’.

(I know; we’re the cutest).

Nothing is said.

And yet the message is quite clear.

David gives us an example of this non-verbal communication in the heavens.

He speaks about the sun, and the sun’s “daily run” across the sky, like it’s some kind of daily distance runner, an all-day, every day marathoner.

As someone on earth would view it, it seems to be the sun running each day from East to West,

It’s doing its job.

The sun isn’t meant to be worshipped like it was by many of that day (Egypt and Mesopotamia and other countries surrounding God’s people worshipped the Sun).

But the psalmist knows the sun isn’t to be worshipped, it’s meant to lead you to worship the Creator, the One who stuck it right smack dab in the middle of our galaxy.