Ascending Beyond our Troubles

Introduction

I wanted to just quickly highlight the announcement regarding the Roadmap meeting before getting to the message. This year we are planning something a bit different for that weekend. If you have been with our church for a few years, you know that the Roadmap meeting has been largely focused on the business side of church but this year, I thought it would be more beneficial to make it more of a retreat especially since we’ve had to cancel all of our planned retreats. We will have guest speakers, small group activities, and we will also be sending out care packages so when you register, please fill out your current mailing address. I’m really looking forward to seeing all of you there. Please pray that the Roadmap weekend will be a great time to connect together as a church.

Generally at the beginning of the year, we start with a series of messages on the vision of the church and a theme for the year but given everything that is happening in our world, I felt the Lord leading me in a different direction with at least the initial set of sermons. To be honest, the beginning of this year has not been easy, it certainly has not gone as planned. The pandemic is raging around us, we are back to square one with the restrictions, and more than ever people that we care about are getting sick or losing loved ones. On top of that, the political unrest that we all hoped to avoid is now front and center once again in our nation. I don’t know about you but this week, I had some horrible flashbacks to 2020 along with a depressing conversation with a friend who is convinced that 2021 will not be very different from this past year. I wanted to cancel him in Jesus name but he made some valid points.

I’m sure most of us had higher hopes for the new year, things would be different, life would progress becasue there’s few things in life that feel worse the sense that you are stuck especially in a place of trouble or hardship. But fortunately there is a whole section of the Psalms that deal with the progress that every beleiver can make even during the downturns of life. So if you would turn with me Psalm 120, we’ll look at the beginning of the Songs of Ascent.

Psalm 120 ESV

A Song of Ascents. In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. Deliver me, O Lord, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue. What shall be given to you, and what more shall be done to you, you deceitful tongue? A warrior’s sharp arrows, with glowing coals of the broom tree! Woe to me, that I sojourn in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar! Too long have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace. I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war!

Body

Over the years, when I’ve found myself in times of trouble, the Psalms have been like the words of a trusted friend. The psalmists seem to understand the human condition and they provide perspective on how to deal with the many issues that we face in life. The Song of Ascents is a group 15 Psalms that were sung as the people of God made their pilgrimage to Jerusalem two or three times a year. These pilgrimages were a consistent reminder that as beleivers, we are on a journey towards God no matter how laborious, slow, and difficult that may be. Ironically, last year Mira and I were planning to be part of our first pilgrimage with some other AMI pastors on what is known as the Way of Santiago de Compostela which leads to a cathedral in Spain where the apostle James is beleived to have been buried. We were going to do a small portion of it which still amounted to over a week of walking around 8 hours a day. But it’s in the slowness and methodical rythm of walking together with God and others that you hear more clearly from God.

In our age of instant gratification, the benefits of a long pilgrimage are lost on us. We are honed in on quick results, rapid change, and easy solutions. This orientation towards life seems to work when things are going great but it is not designed to get you through times of trouble. Many of the issues that were uncovered in our lives and in our world the past year cannot be changed quickly, there are no easy solutions, and those who think there are ultimately will be dissapointed. Social problems like inequality, injustice, and the divisions caused by these issues cannot be solved overnight. It requires a long and concerted effort and that isn’t simply a cop-out answer, it’s the reality of life. One well-known urban missiologist that I respect, once said that it takes at least 15 years to produce lasting impact in urban ministry. For people who are used to moving every few years, changing jobs every other year, and switching churches on a regular basis that seems like forever but that is what is required to see real change.

It’s interesting that a Psalm that was meant to introduce the concept of pilgramage first acknowledges the feelings of being stuck in a place where you don’t want to be. Wherever it is that this psalmist currently resides, it doesn’t seem like a great place to call home for at least a couple of reasons that we should be able to relate to:

1. Truth is difficult to find

2. No one really wants peace

This psalm reminds us that the world that we live in is filled with lies and half truths and for us, the sheer amount of information that is now available on the internet increases the magnitude of that problem. What has become increasingly evident during this past year is that more information doesn’t necessarily lead to more truth. Ironically, it can lead to exactly the opposite where people can simply pull in a variety of facts from this sea of information that happens to support their false narratives. There is so much venomous and toxic things that are being shared and said and it has become increasingly difficult to find any source of reliable truth. Everything seems politicized and from a biased point of view.

But for the psalmist, what makes these things doubly worse is that these lies aren’t just coming from media outlets or from politicians, it’s his neighbors, those who are closeby, people who he may see on the streets, who are propagating these lies. When this starts to happen, the seeds of distrust and suspicion begin to wreak havoc in a society. Not long ago, social media was considered a benign way to connect our increasingly fragmented world but sadly it seems to have achieved the opposite effect or perhaps it has simply revealed the lies and false narratives that are found in the hearts of all people, including yours and mine.

This psalm is a good reminder that the world we live in is one that filled with great deception and that we need pray for deliverance from these lies lest we too fall into them. I don’t think it normally occurs to us that we need to pray to be delivered from lying lips. After all growing up, we all probably sang the same school yard songs, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me.” That itself is a lie because words do hurt and they can be used to incite and inflict great violence. Ultimately this is the world that we live in and hopefully as you see it for what it is, you’ll want to turn away from it.

I love the way James Boice describes a Christian pilgrim. “A pilgrim is a person who has grown dissatisfied with where he or she has been and is on the way to something better.” More specifically a Christian pilgrim is one who has repented of the lies that surround him (or may even be in him) and who is now going towards God via a relationship with Christ. Eugene Peterson has a great prayer that we too can pray regarding our deliverance from the lies of this world.

Rescue me from the lies of advertisers who claim to know what I need and what I desire, from the lies of entertainers who promise a cheap way to joy, from the lies of politicians who pretend to instruct me in power and morality… Rescue me from the person who tells me of life and omits Christ, who is wise in the ways of the world and ignores the movement of the Spirit.

As Christians we are called to create a community that is a refuge and a shelter from the lies of this world. In fact, learning to speak the truth in love is the path towards maturing as a body of believers:

Ephesians 4:15 ESV

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,

Speaking the truth is love will have a far better outcome than speaking the truth in anger or speaking the truth in fear or speaking the truth in self-defense or self-righteousness. All of these truths may be factually correct but if they are not communicated in love, they fall short of the standard of God. Those are the traps that I’ve fallen into and I’ve resolved to not fall into those patterns again.

Later on in this chapter, there is further instruction on how we are to speak to one another.

Ephesians 4:29 ESV

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Here in this passage we see the command to speak truth, to put aside falsehood, and to keep ourselves from slander and false accusations. What we communicate and the way we communicate is something that is repeatedly highlighted in the Scriptures. Clearly this subject demands our attention and we need to place the same importance on what we say as God does. There are four things that we need to consider as we communicate with other.

1.) The first is to let no corrupting word come from you. This adjective in the Greek refers to food that is spoiled and rotting. Words spoken unwisely can have a corrupting and rotting influence on people. Now, think about the implications of what Paul writes here. There is great power in our words and we can easily corrupt the souls of others and have that corruption spread from person to person.

Mahaney points out that the reason why so many Christians are callused to the sin in their speech is simply because we say so much in a day. We overlook this sin even though it is a daily temptation and a daily tendency. Proverbs 10:19 tells us that “Where there are many words, transgression (or sin) is unavoidable.” You talk enough you will fall into sin. This is why Isaiah when confronted with the Holiness of God repents of the fact that he is a man with unclean lips. Mahaney defines corrupt or rotten speech as “any or all words that deter growth in godliness and hinders godly relationships.”

2.) Ephesians 4:29 is not only a command of prohibition it is also an exhortation to speak encouraging and edifying words. There is an old cliche, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” That’s only half the battle. We are also commanded to speak words that promote spiritual growth and godly relationships. This verse is not speaking merely about courteous words or polite words or even self-gratifying words, it’s talking about words that are glorifying to God, centered around the cross, and which draws attention to the things of God.

· People need to be encouraged and they need to be edified, meaning they need to be built up. Our words can have this effect on people. When a brother or sister speaks the right words to me, I feel built up, cared for, and loved.

· One simple way that you can edify your brothers and sister is by talking about how God is working in their lives. Sometimes what is obvious to others might not be so obvious to yourself and so we need people to speak into us. Inform one another about evidences of the fruit of the Spirit and gifts of the Spirit.

3.) We need to speak appropriate words. The content must fit the context. You need to know the person, study the person and listen to that person. Edifying words come in all shapes and sizes, it can be a rebuke, or an exhortation, or an encouragement. Use the words that fit the circumstance. If a person is going through some personal tragedy, probably not the best time to bring a word of correction, you probably want to bring of word of comfort. If someone is in sin, sympathy is probably not the best cure, you need a gentle word of discipline. You need to speak into people’s lives.

4.) Finally, be purposeful in the way you speak. We need to have the intention of giving grace when we speak to another. Again this doesn’t mean just nice words. Just because you say nice things to one another, it doesn’t mean that there is a transfer of grace. Grace comes when we remind each other of the gospel through the things we say. This has the greatest application when we are trying to correct one another. It doesn’t take much skill to correct someone. I can probably spend an hour with each of you and come up with something that you need to correct in your life. That is being Captain Obvious. No duh! The greater skill is being able to correct someone while giving them grace. God never stops with just the correction, he always offers the forgiveness of the cross.

And in these four ways, we can begin to create a truly loving community with our words because in case you haven’t noticed, we live in a very hostile world. And in truth, one leads to the other. A society that is filled with lies will eventually devolve into hostilities. We can see this remarkable bridge between these two evils of society in verse 4 where the psalmist describes these lies as:

Psalm 120:4 ESV

A warrior’s sharp arrows, with glowing coals of the broom tree!

All hostilities begin with a war of words and the psalmist recognizes that the lies that he hears from the lips of people are like a warrior’s arrows whose tips are laced with burning coals intended to set their targets on fire. Because of this lack of truth in the public square, there is this air of hostility everywhere and this again should remind us that this is not our home. Meshech and Kedar, which are mentioned by the psalmist in verse 5 are the names of two groups of people who were known for their war-like cultures. Likewise, our nation is filled with violent hostility and it is not isolated to one political party or one race or a particular socioeconomic class, it is pervasive across our society. It was pretty clear this week that people were ready to die for their political ideologies but they are not the only ones. This past summer, I saw pamphlets right outside our church doors recruiting people for armed civilian militia groups in the city. They are underground now but for how long?

It’s startling to realize that we are not exempt from the conflict, violence, and hostility that seemed reserved for other countries who are less developed, less advanced, less stable. Most of us want to think of ourselves as peaceful and peace loving, but in reality we are not. No country really is except for maybe Switzerland but you can’t get a visa there unless you are rich. I am just half joking but as believers, we are called to promote peace wherever we find ourselves no matter how difficult that may be.

Matthew 5:9 ESV

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Being peacemakers isn’t always going to be popular espesically in our deeply divided country but this too is a reminder that this world is not our home. Like the psalmist, we should find ourselves reaching the limits of having to live in a world that hates peace. (Too long have I dwelled among those who hate peace.) But within the words of his prayer, we see the glimmer of hope that the psalmist holds onto. He refers to himself as a sojourner in the land. To be a sojourner means to be a temporary resident of where you are. A sojourner knows that his or her permanent home is elsewhere.

1 Peter 2:11 ESV

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

Conclusion

As we consider what it means to be soujourners, we may be accused of being escapists unwilling to face the realities of this world but that is the furthest thing from the truth. In the last verse, we can see that this psalmist is still very much involved in the world as he tries to speak about peace even when it seems that everyone around him is promoting conflict. It seems that in these tumultuous times, any mention of peace is seen as a rejection of justice but those two social values are interconnected. Without justice, there is no lasting peace but if peace is not the end of goal of justice, justice simply turns into an on-going cycle of retribution. In that way, justice is a means to an end and can never serve as the end goal in itself.

For those of us who have been transformed by the gospel, we should see this clear connection between peace and justice on the cross. We know that justice for our sins was paid through the blood of Christ but the end goal of that justice was peace between God and man.

Isaiah 53:5 ESV

But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

It is still my firm belief that the gospel of Christ is the only way we can achieve justice that leads to peace. I believe that Martin Luther had it right when he said:

“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

You may be able to forcibly produce justice but peace can never come by force, only love can do that. We are very far from home in those regards and it’s expected that the world would not truly understand the Biblical path to peace but as believers, we need to ask ourselves, “Are we truly for peace? And are we willing to pursue that peace even in the face of hostile opposition from a world that is very much in darkness.