The Cup You Choose

Scripture Passage

Psalm 16 (NRSV)

1 Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge.

2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.”

3 As for the holy ones in the land, they are the noble, in whom is all my delight.

4 Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names upon my lips.

5 The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.

6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage.

7 I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.

8 I keep the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also rests secure.

10 For you do not give me up to Sheol, or let your faithful one see the Pit.

11 You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Focus Statement

Every day we have the opportunity to choose to follow Jesus.

Point of Relation

There is a movie I must reference if we are going to be talking about different cups and what not.

I would be very shocked if most have not heard or seen of this one...

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade...

Starring Harrison Ford and the late, great Sean Connery

In that film, Indy (played by Harrison Ford) is racing against the clock to beat out Nazi’s in finding the elusive, yet powerful Holy Grail.

Now, as Christians, we should all know what the Holy Grail is; however, in case there are those not familiar with Arthurian legend, or the Knights Templar, or even the Dan Brown novel, The DaVinci Code,

The Holy Grail is a relic long sought after and fantasized by Christians:

It is the cup from which Jesus and the disciples drank from during the Last Supper...

Where the first Holy Eucharist, or Communion, took place.

In the film, the legend has it that anyone who drinks from the cup of Christ shall inherit eternal life...

And the Nazi’s, of course, are looking to drink from it to become gods.

As it turns out, Indy’s dad (played by Sean Connery) had spent his life in search of this elusive treasure...

with the hopes of putting it in a museum, where it can be cherished the faithful and historians alike.

As such, Henry Jones (Indy’s dad) ends up getting kidnapped, which sucks Indy into the quest to find his dad and the grail.

Toward the end of the film, the opportunity to claim the grail presents itself.

To make a long story short,

Henry Jones, gets shot...

And Indiana has to go ahead to get the grail, fill it with water, and save his dad’s life.

Of course, the Nazi’s follow him, avoiding the booby traps Indy was able to figure out.

When they get to the chamber they find a living but centuries old Knight Templar who has been guarding the grail...

The bad guy, Donovan, demands that he hand the grail over.

The knight tells him to choose wisely, because the wrong cup will bring eternal death.

Donvan’s assistant asked to be the one to choose for him...

And she picks out a glorious golden chalice fit for Eucharistic Mass...

Which turns out to be the wrong cup and, following drinking from…he ages to the point of there being nothing left of Donovan but bones and dust...

The Knight declared that “He chose poorly.”

That is when Indy realized that Jesus of Nazareth was a simple, poor, carpenter...

He would not have drank out of a cup of kings…but a simple, earthenware, cup of 1st century Palestine would be the only cup that would possible do...

And when he found the cup and drank from it...

The Knight told him that he chose wisely.

In the end, Donovan the Nazi was after power and glory…but that only belongs to God...

Indy on the other hand was there to save his father’s life…to humbly seek the help of Christ...

And his humility helped him rediscover his faith, and sound judgment to choose the simplicity of Christ over the pomp and grandeur of the world..

Things to Consider

We all have a choice in who or what we follow in life.

To live a Christian life involves choosing to follow Jesus.

For some of us, that choice is easy,

for others it is hard.

The first time we made that choice may have been long ago or just recently.

Or maybe we are considering this choice and wondering what it means, involves, or asks of us.

What the Bible Says

This Psalm was traditionally attributed by David.

The Psalmist, David or not, is wholly devoted to the Yahweh, the God of Israel.

And we can see that there is a division among the people of Israel...

where some are choosing other gods over Yahweh…the One, True God of Israel...

While others, such as this Psalmist, have chosen God...

Yet, there is seeming pressure to follow suit with others to choose the false gods.

As such, given the intertextual evidence that this person was being tempted to maintain the status quo of polytheism,

some scholars believe that Psalm 16 could have been written by a Canaanite convert to Judaism...

someone who was already living in the land

where God led the Israelites and who chose to follow the God of Israel,

even though doing so would have been a departure from their background and culture.

See Knight, George A (1982). Daily Bible Study Series: Psalms vol. 1. Westminster John Knox Press.

For some people, their upbringing, culture, and background (such as David’s) may make choosing God a sort of “default option,”

whereas for others, it may be that choosing God may involve a choice for something new and different.

Regardless, we all have the option to choose the “gods” we’ve made

(for example, gods of vanity, pride, self-abnegation, consumerism, politics, etc.)

or God who is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,

The God who created the entire cosmos…and who has called us into eternal life in God’s Kingdom.

The psalmist speaks of choosing God using the image of a cup (verse 5)

by contrast with those who “choose another god” (verse 4).

The “cup” here is a way of describing what a person’s life is going to be like, or their “lot in life.”

In some places this is involves punishment or suffering,

and in others blessing and salvation

For example, in Psalm 11:6

“He will rain down blazing coals and burning sulfur on the wicked, punishing them with scorching winds” vs

and in Isaiah 51:17

“Wake up, wake up, O Jerusalem! You have drunk the cup of the Lord’s fury. You have drunk the cup of terror, tipping out its last drops.”

Vs. in Psalm 23:5

“You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings.”

and in here in Psalm 16:5-6,

when the psalmist says, “the Lord is my chosen cup,”

the psalmist is not claiming the power to control what happens to him/her.

Rather, the psalmist is choosing to follow God and confessing trust that in doing so,

God will protect and take care of them in their lives.

We can think of this as being positioned to receive God’s grace.

We do not earn grace, but in turning away from false gods and turning toward God,

we are in a position and posture to receive what God offers.

Even our ability to choose to turn toward God is made possible by grace

(in Wesleyan theology, this is “prevenient grace.”)

Choosing God is not a human achievement;

it is a response to the gift and promises of God.

I want us to quickly look at Deuteronomy 30:15-20

15 “Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster. 16 For I command you this day to love the Lord your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy. 17 “But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods, 18 then I warn you now that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live a long, good life in the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy. 19 “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! 20 You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

Today’s Psalm could be read as a response to God’s command from a new Canaanite covert…or it could be the reflective words of a King wholly devoted to worshiping Israel’s One, true God.

In fact, whether intentional or not, this Psalm is a response to God…a response in the affirmative...

An affirmation and desire to remain positioned or attuned to Good.

The psalmist even describes what being positioned or attuned to God looks like for him/her:

Confessing faith and trust in God (verses 2, 5, 10-11)

Looking to God for instruction and help via prayer, Scripture, community (verses 1, 7, 11)

Praise, rejoicing & gratitude (verses 6 - 11)

How can we position ourselves to be shaped into the vessels we were created to be?

How can we choose living water? And share it?

What This Means for You

Whether you’ve inherited the faith, like David,

Or you are a new convert to God through Jesus Christ...

how have you chosen to follow the LIVING Jesus?

How do you choose this each day?

How do you get to know God…through daily Scripture Reading?

How do you worship God through praise and thanksgiving?

How do you serve God through mission and ministry?

How do you witness your faith to others, bring them to Jesus, and lead them to the larger Body of Christ…aka your Church congregation?

What This Means for Us

As a church, how do we make sure that is Jesus who is front and center of our worship?

We need to have courage and step up to serve and to lead.

We need to avoid worshiping false gods such as power, greed, gossip, bitterness, hatred, unforgiveness...

We need to let go of our golden calfs...

Traditions that keep us locked in the past; rather, that keeping us faithful to Christ’s call and direction.

Traditions that make us feel comfortable...

but block effective witness, inclusion, mission, and ministry.

Together, we can not only continue what we have been doing...

Feeding the hungry, being present for the lonely, visiting the sick and imprisoned, clothing the naked, housing the homeless...

All things this church has been active throughout its long history...

And we can expand and progress from where we are to where God is calling us to be...

As we go on from this week, I invite you to reflect on what it is God is calling you to do...

What ways in which you can serve Christ in your personal lives as well as in the context of the Church...

Together, let us, like this Psalmist, witness to the God above all other gods, the King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen? Amen.