People of the Word, Pt 3
Notes
Transcript
I need some younger kids to help me up here. 2 or 3 of you, please.
Okay. I’m going to pull an item out of this box and ask the question: “What do we do with this?” Easy enough. You just have to tell me what each item does.
Sometimes, we have no idea what to do with various items around the house. Sometimes, I wonder if we know what to do with God’s Word besides read it (like it’s any other book).
This morning, we’re going to answer this question: “What do we do with the Word of God?”
This is our third week in Psalm 119, reading and reflecting upon the Word of God. There’s so much in this, the longest psalm, the longest chapter in the Bible.
Psalm 119 teaches us what we are to believe about the Word of God—that’s it’s true and right and good. Psalm 119 teaches us what we should feel about the Word of God—delight and longing and a sense of dependence.
What we should believe about the Word, how we should feel about the Word, and now we turn this week to what we do with God’s Word.
This is, I pray, going to be a pretty practical/applicable sermon and also one in which you will, Lord willing, understand why we do what we do.
We strive to do “Bible things in Bible ways”. That’s an ideal of the Restoration Movement (the movement that birthed independent Christian churches such as this one)—doing Bible things in Bible ways.
We don’t always live up to that because we’re human. And, in our sinful, selfish, self-important natures, we tend to do what we want to do.
Our striving, albeit far from perfect, is to do what the Bible would have us do, especially when we gather together.
Years ago, I borrowed and adapted for our purposes, a quote from Mark Dever. It’s about what we are to do when we gather the people of God together to worship. This is what he said, with the parenthetical statement added by this guy who loves parenthetical statements:
“We read the Bible, preach the Bible, pray the Bible, sing the Bible, and see the Bible (in communion, offering, and baptism).”
This is our goal. This is what we attempt to do each Lord’s Day and any other time we gather.
The Bible is “our only rule of faith and practice.” It has to be. If anything creeps in and takes its place or has equal footing with the Bible, the Word of God, we’re headed down a scary path.
Kevin DeYoung writes this much needed corrective that all churches and Christians need to hear: “The Word of God is more than enough to accomplish the work of God in the people of God.”
Shame on us if we think the Bible is insufficient to guide us, to teach us, to correct us, to motivate us, to save us.
We’ve spent three weeks covering what we believe about the Bible.
There’s much more that could be said, but we’ve covered the basics.
Bottom line for us and for any part of Christ’s Church: the Bible, the Word of God, is indispensible.
Let’s get rid of all songs, all traditions, all prayers, all ministries, all programs, all beliefs, all sermons, all classes; everything that is not Bible. If it’s not the Word of God, it’s entirely disposable.
We need to put the Bible in its place and keep it there.
What do we do with the Word of God?
What do we do with the Word of God?
The psalmist fills Psalm 119 with all sorts of action verbs. There is much we are meant to do with God’s Word. The Spirit of God is calling us to use the Word of God, to put into practice what it says.
These actions are no substitute for proper faith and affection, but they are the best indicators of what we really believe and feel about the Word.
What do we, the people of God and people of the Word, do with the Word of God?
Let’s see what Psalm 119 teaches us to do:
172 May my tongue sing of your word,
for all your commands are righteous.
SING IT
SING IT
Singing is not the sum total of worship, but it is a part. And it’s an important part. We are told to sing the praises of God. We are instructed and encouraged to lift our voices, to declare His praises, to praise His name.
We have the Word so that we will sing the Word. The collection of Psalms was the prayer book and the songbook of the people of God and, likely, of the early church.
Both praise songs we sang came from Psalms—Psalm 46 and Psalm 119. Singing those songs, you’re singing the Word.
We make certain that the songs we sing are Biblical. There are a lot of songs that aren’t Biblical. There are songs in the hymnal that are not Biblical at all. We won’t sing those. They should be ripped out of the hymnal, in fact.
There are plenty of new songs that have no place in the church. Not every song on K-Love or Christian radio is worth listening to. If Bethel or Hillsong or Elevation wrote it, we won’t be singing it. The truth of the song and the source of the song matters more than how catchy it might be.
We need to make sure the songs we sing are Biblically sound. There are so many good, Biblical songs available to us. We need to sing songs that remind us of the gospel, of what Jesus has done, of who God is; songs that praise Him and glorify Him.
May [our tongues] sing of [His] Word.
If you’re singing a song and you say, “Oh, yeah, I think I read that in Psalm 32,” or, “That song is directly from Romans 8,” or “Those lyrics are Colossians 1,”—if you can identify the lyrics of a song as Bible verses, that’s a good song; that is a song worth singing.
Sing the Word of God.
13 With my lips I recount
all the laws that come from your mouth.
46 I will speak of your statutes before kings
and will not be put to shame,
We sing the Word and we...
SPEAK IT
SPEAK IT
With my lips I recount…I will speak your statutes...
The psalmist loves God’s Word; he delights in it. He knows it. He’s internalized it. And he’s eager to share his pleasure in the word, eager to share what God has spoken.
He’s so confident and comfortable with the word of God that he will speak of it openly and freely, even before kings.
Daniel and his friends were ready and willing, even in the face of death, to speak and recount the words and promises, the commands and the statutes of God in a hostile setting.
Ezra spoke the words of God to King Artaxerxes, as did Nehemiah.
Do we know the Word of God well enough to recount it, to speak it? Does it come up in our daily conversation? Does it shape our thoughts more than, say, Fox News or CNN or Facebook?
I have memories of my parents and my grandma quoting the Bible without my realizing until much later that’s what they were doing.
It was so much a part of who they were that the speaking of the Word just happened: “Don’t worry about tomorrow…to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord…don’t throw your pearls to pigs… bless those who treat you poorly.”
These verses and many more were just a part of them. Everyone has sayings and expressions. I just didn’t realize that some of my family’s expressions were actually Bible verses.
You don’t have to be extra-religious or pious to do this. No one would accuse my parents or grandma of this; it’s just that their thoughts were influenced by the Word of God and it marked their lives. It seasoned their speech.
Imagine if we, like the psalmist, would recount the words of God, if we’d speak the statutes and precepts of God in our day to day lives.
It’d certainly be better than some of what comes out of my mouth from time to time.
What do we do with the Word of God? We sing it and speak it and...
15 I meditate on your precepts
and consider your ways.
48 I reach out for your commands, which I love,
that I may meditate on your decrees.
97 Oh, how I love your law!
I meditate on it all day long.
148 My eyes stay open through the watches of the night,
that I may meditate on your promises.
STUDY IT
STUDY IT
When you read the word “meditate” don’t think Eastern mysticism; don’t picture Rafiki from “The Lion King” sitting cross-legged, holding his hands outstretched, saying “ohm”.
Meditate means the act of giving careful, undistracted thought to a subject or a person.
The psalmist says he meditates...all day long. He stays awake through the watches of the night in order to meditate on the promises of God.
In college, I started putting my Bible on my bedroom pillow when I wasn’t using it for class. That way, I had to physically pick my Bible and move it off the bed before I went to sleep. It was a cue for me to spend time reading God’s Word and meditating on it before I went to sleep.
I wasn’t a morning person (I’m still not). But my routine has changed a little since college.
It’s important to spend time meditating on God’s Word. It doesn’t have to be all day. It doesn’t have to be for long.
But you, Christian, should (and should want to) spend time giving careful, undistracted thought to what God has said.
I prefer to use my Bible (with actual pages, you know, a hard copy). You might prefer to use a digital Bible. If you do, that’s great.
There are apps that will remind you daily to read.
There are apps that will read the Bible to you (i.e. Dwell. You pick the voice, the music, the passage).
Study the Word of God. Meditate on it. Listen to it. Come to Bible Study on Wednesday nights and Sunday School before Worship. Get together with a few friends to read and discuss the Word. Listen to good, Bible preachers (I can give you a list of names if you’d like).
Study the Word of God.
11 I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
93 I will never forget your precepts,
for by them you have preserved my life.
141 Though I am lowly and despised,
I do not forget your precepts.
Study God’s Word in order to:
STORE IT UP
STORE IT UP
This is careful memorization and pondering of the Word.
The psalmist takes the time and opportunity to tell the Lord that he’s not going to forget the Word, that he has hidden God’s Word in his heart, that he realizes it’s God’s Word that preserves His life—I will never forget...
I fear a good portion of the time we barely give a passing thought to God’s Word.
When’s the last time you committed a verse to memory? I can tell you that it’s been a little while for me since I’ve intentionally memorized a portion of the Bible.
It takes some work. It takes time. But the reward of having God’s Word hidden in your heart, the reward and the benefit of storing it up is incredible.
It’ll give you comfort and peace and assurance when you need it most.
When you’re having a bad day at work and you don’t have access to your Bible or your phone, you can remember the promise from God’s Word that He will never leave you or forsake you.
When you run into someone at the store and you can see that they’re struggling, you can pull out that verse you’ve hidden in your heart and tell them God’s mercies are new every morning; great is His faithfulness.
If your child is being bullied, you can assure them that they are fearfully and wonderfully made and that what God says is more important than what anyone else has to say.
The storing up, the remembering and not forgetting of God’s Word was (and is, or should be) central to the people of God.
In the book of Deuteronomy, the people of God are given these steps to help them:
6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
What do we do with God’s Word? We store it up and hide it in our hearts.
5 Oh, that my ways were steadfast
in obeying your decrees!
8 I will obey your decrees;
do not utterly forsake me.
17 Be good to your servant while I live,
that I may obey your word.
44 I will always obey your law,
for ever and ever.
57 You are my portion, Lord;
I have promised to obey your words.
129 Your statutes are wonderful;
therefore I obey them.
145 I call with all my heart; answer me, Lord,
and I will obey your decrees.
167 I obey your statutes,
for I love them greatly.
168 I obey your precepts and your statutes,
for all my ways are known to you.
We store up the Word and we:
OBEY IT
OBEY IT
One of the most frequent ways in which the psalmist responds to the Word of God is by obeying it.
If we held a copy of God’s Word before the fella who wrote Psalm 119 and asked him, “What do we do with this?”
He’d reply with these two words (among others): “Obey it.”
The psalmist realizes he needs God’s Word for the duration of his residence in God’s world. Life is tough. We need help from above. We need God’s Word to help us navigate each of the ups and downs we encounter.
To obey is to keep a command with diligence, to do what it says.
Psalm 119:5 begins with the word “oh”. It’s a way, in Hebrew, to say, “If only” or “My wish”.
The psalmist doesn’t think that he is an example of perfect obedience.
He’s saying, “I wish I was better at obeying. If only I was more steadfast in obeying!”
The goal is obedience to what God’s Word says. And yet we don’t do this perfectly. We can’t possibly obey God’s Word perfectly.
But we know the One who was perfectly obedient. We know that Jesus flawlessly obeyed His Father’s decrees. We know that He fulfilled the Law for us and that His righteousness and perfect obedience is imputed/credited to us.
This is the Good News. And this is what enables us to obey; Jesus gives us grace and strength and the ability to obey.
What do we do with the Word of God? The psalmist writes:
7 I will praise you with an upright heart
as I learn your righteous laws.
164 Seven times a day I praise you
for your righteous laws.
171 May my lips overflow with praise,
for you teach me your decrees.
We obey the Word of God and:
PRAISE GOD FOR IT
PRAISE GOD FOR IT
This sounds like a good Sunday School answer, doesn’t it? Praise God!
The psalmist has so let himself be captivated by God’s Word that he repeatedly finds himself praising God for it.
Verse 164 says he does this seven times a day. It’s probably a figure for “many times a day”. Seven is often used that way.
“Many times a day I praise you for your righteous laws.”
He’s overflowing with praise to God for the Word of God.
There’s a tradition in some church bodies that I love. After a person has finished reading a Bible passage, they’ll say, “This, the Word of the Lord,” and the congregation will respond: “Thanks be to God.”
That should be our attitude. That should be our response. When we listen to the Word, hear the Word preached, get to read the Word, study the Word—our response should be praise.
What do we do with the Word of God? We praise God for it, and one more:
58 I have sought your face with all my heart;
be gracious to me according to your promise.
147 I rise before dawn and cry for help;
I have put my hope in your word.
153 Look on my suffering and deliver me,
for I have not forgotten your law.
154 Defend my cause and redeem me;
preserve my life according to your promise.
155 Salvation is far from the wicked,
for they do not seek out your decrees.
156 Your compassion, Lord, is great;
preserve my life according to your laws.
157 Many are the foes who persecute me,
but I have not turned from your statutes.
158 I look on the faithless with loathing,
for they do not obey your word.
159 See how I love your precepts;
preserve my life, Lord, in accordance with your love.
160 All your words are true;
all your righteous laws are eternal.
We praise God for it and we:
PRAY GOD WOULD ACT ON IT
PRAY GOD WOULD ACT ON IT
There’s a repeated word throughout Psalm 119 in the many verses where the psalmist is praying for God to act on His Word (what I read are just a few).
It’s translated “look” or “see”.
The psalmist is asking God to give him a new lease on life, to rescue him from his enemies; to defend and save, rescue and deliver; to preserve his life.
The psalmist knows the Word of God well enough to know that these are things God has done. He’s praying the Word of God.
He’s saying,
“Lord, I know you have defended and saved your people before—many times. I know you are Rescuer and Deliverer. Please rescue and deliver me! Preserve my life as you preserved the lives of Noah and Abraham and Joseph and Moses and David.”
By reading and storing up the Word of God, we know how God operates. We know what kind of a God He is. We know His character and His attributes.
And then we can pray for Him to act.
What do we, as the people of God, do with the Word of God?
Sing it, speak it, study it, store it up, obey it, praise God for it, and pray God would act on it—this is how men and women of God handle the Bible.
Now don’t panic if you seem to fall short in believing, feeling, and doing. Remember, Psalm 119 is a love poem, not a checklist.
The Bible that we believe it true and good and right should fill us with feelings of delight and longing and dependence.
And then, we sing and speak, we study and store up and obey, we praise God and pray that God would act.
When we grasp all that that the Bible is, when we feel the way we should about the Bible, when we do with the Bible what the Lord would have us do we will be blessed, indeed.
We will be blessed and others will be blessed through us.
We will grow in the faith and will share with others who He is and what He has done for us.
We will believe and feel about and do what the Bible would have us to—for we are people of the Word.
