15. Experiencing God's Blessing

Welcome to Iowa City Church and the conclusion of our series, Long Obedience in the Same Direction.

When was the last time you did something you didn’t want to do, and it turned out to be an amazing experience? Oh, I’ve had a lot of them. In December I was having a really busy day, but I had promised Chris Cheely, up here in the fancy rolling chair, that I would stop by. I didn’t really want to, I had a lot to do…but I did it any way…only to find out she had a surprise for me! She had bought me a delicious Starbucks drink! It made my day, and I would have missed out on it if I avoided the thing I didn’t feel like doing.

It’s kind of a funny thing when you stop to think about it. There are literally a lot of things we didn’t feel like doing that we ended up doing…only to experience something amazing. There have been workouts I didn’t feel like rolling out of bed for, but I did it anyway, only to crush my previous PR. There have been chapel services and even worship services I didn’t feel like being a part of, but when I did it and saw God work in a profound way, I was so glad I didn’t listen to my feelings!

For the last 14 weeks we have been talking about this faith journey of following Jesus. The word we use to describe this journey is discipleship; committed to following Jesus, being transformed by Jesus and living on mission with Jesus.

There are some days, that whole discipleship journey sounds great…you’re feeling it. You get out of bed and you’re ready to roll. Then there are other days when you just aren’t feeling it. Life has you down and you don’t feel like walking the path. Maybe it’s just the guilt of something you did or said, you’re just not feeling it. Maybe it’s just the struggle of life, where it feels like wave after wave of hurt and brokenness just keeps knocking you down and you think, Jesus, I’m just not feeling it today. How do we keep going on those days, seasons when you just don’t feel it?

Maybe that is where you are today. I’m glad you are here this morning! No matter where you are on your faith journey of following Jesus, no matter what you are experiencing, you can experience God’s blessing…even when you don’t feel like it. In fact, it may just be that your greatest experience of God’s blessing will happen when you don’t feel it. Let me show you what I’m talking about.

If you have a Bible or device, find Psalm 134, the final Psalm of Ascent. If you are using the YouVersion Bible app, look for Events. Then search of Iowa City Church. All the Scriptures and Sermon Notes will be on your device.

If this is your first time with us, we have spent the entire 2022 year so far studying the 15 Psalms of Ascent. These were the worship songs that Jewish pilgrims would sing as they traveled from their villages and towns on their way to Jerusalem. So imagine these throngs of people walking in community up the mountain to Jerusalem to celebrate one of the festivals…like Passover. So imagine, today is Palm Sunday, where people had gathered in Jerusalem for Passover, and Jesus enters on the donkey. Those crowds of people would have sang these psalms as they came to Jerusalem. Just a bit of context for what we are about to read.

So, as we have been doing throughout the series, join me in standing as I read the Psalm 134.

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (Psalm 134)

Behold, bless the LORD, all servants of the LORD, Who serve by night in the house of the LORD! 2 Lift up your hands to the sanctuary And bless the LORD. 3 May the LORD bless you from Zion, He who made heaven and earth.

PRAY

Even though there are three verses to this psalm, there is a lot going on here. Also, this psalm may not be the big, celebratory ending you had hoped for, but trust me, this is the psalm you need. Let’s talk about it.

Some of you may notice that I changed up translations. I almost exclusively use the NIV. I switched up to the NASB because they translated this much better.

“Behold, bless the LORD” - This is a strong, imperative or command. A command to “bless” the LORD. Some of your translations may say praise. This is kind of a strange concept to us in many ways. How is one to, “bless the LORD”? It shows up literally all over the Bible, we even have it in our song lyrics, “Bless the LORD oh my soul.”

To bless the LORD is when one praises God, gives thanks to him, extols his greatness, sings or pronounces his excellence or declares adoration to him because of who he is and what he has done.

This shouldn’t surprise anyone, but this phrase shows up the most often in Psalms and narratives applying to David. So the command is given, “Behold, bless, or praise, extol, verbally adore God!”

Now, let’s give some context to what is happening. Remember, these psalms of ascent are sang as the Jewish pilgrims are traveling from their homes to Jerusalem to worship at the temple. So imagine with me, you and a group of your neighbors have left the Galilee region two days ago. You’ve traveled, camped out with your group. You’ve traveled some more and you together walked up the mountain to Jerusalem. You’ve arrived, the town is buzzing with energy, and pageantry because of the feast. The sun is setting, it’s getting dark, torches and lamps are being lit. However, like many in your group you are excited to be there…you don’t want to wait, you want to go to the Temple.

So you head over to the Temple where there activities are going around the clock, especially during the times of the feasts, like Passover. However, the priests who are working…it appears that they aren’t feeling it this evening. Whether they are absent, or lethargic or not engaged we don’t know. What we do know is that the weary, yet excited pilgrims have traveled a long distance to bless the LORD…let’s do this. So they say:

Behold, bless the LORD, all servants of the LORD, Who serve by night in the house of the LORD! 2 Lift up your hands to the sanctuary And bless the LORD.

With that context it makes more sense right? The priests in the Temple need a little encouragement or a kick in the pants. They aren’t feeling it, so the crowd calls them out…even tells them to join them in “lifting” their hands in the sanctuary, to bless the LORD. So the crowd is challenging the priests to get into it, even lifting their hands and then in verse three, we aren’t for sure if it’s the crowd of pilgrim’s speaking, the priests responding or both unison. But here is the response:

May the LORD bless you from Zion, He who made heaven and earth.

The priests may not have been feeling it, but after they started blessing the LORD they were reminded of God’s blessings he had given them. Then the whole crowd, blessing God....and experiencing his blessing. It’s what I call the the Blessing cycle: when we make it a priority to bless the LORD through our praises, we are reminded of how he has blessed us and how he will continue to bless us…which then spurs us on to continue to bless his name…and then bless others.

Sometimes we don’t feel like blessing by, but by changing our behavior we can change our feelings, which changes our behaviors.

That’s how this blessing cycle works. Back in March, Suzi and I went to the NCAA women’s tournament game here in Carver Hawkeye arena. The game was close heading into the fourth quarter. Iowa was behind and as the game went to a TV timeout, the Iowa cheer leaders started the I-O-W-A chant, where each section of the arena yells out one of those letters. It goes around the arena much like the wave. Well, this game was a sell-out…it was packed and it started slow and quiet, but it picked up steam until everyone was yelling out their letter…and it kept going around and around the arena for the entire TV time out, at least two minutes. I had never seen anything like it. People who normally don’t participate were yelling out their letter, no one wanted to stop, no one wanted to break the chain.

That is the lesson from Psalm 134, sometimes we are feeling flat, out of it, distracted, distant…but your feelings aren’t reality. Do you know what is real? Your muscles. Your brain. Jesus. Jesus is real. Psalm 134 says: “You may not be feeling it, but when you tell your muscles to bless the LORD, your feelings change as you experience God’s blessings ”

I like how Eugene Peterson puts it:

“Don’t be shy. Don’t hold back. Did you have a fight with your spouse on the way? That’s alright. You are here now. Bless God. Did you quarrel with your neighbor while making the trip? Forget it. You are here now. Bless God. Did you lose touch with your children while coming and aren’t sure just where they are now? Put that aside for the moment. They have their own pilgrimage to make. You are here now. Bless God. Are you ashamed of the feelings you had while traveling? The grumbling you indulged in? The resentment you harbored? Well, you’re here now. Bless God. Are you embarrassed at the number of times you quit and had to have someone pick you up and carry you along? No matter. You are here now. Bless God.” ~ Eugene Peterson

Not feeling it? Bless God and you will remember is blessings. Bless God and you will be a blessing to those around you. Bless God and you will be blessed.

Here is the where the tension is for all of us right now. Most of us, maybe all of us right now would rather feel better then find God. Wrestle with that for a moment. Would you rather feel better or find God? To pursue feeling better is only temporary…it lasts a moment. To pursue God brings us to the source. It helps us experience his blessings and provides us a blessing to share.

Kara Tippetts, an author, mother of four and co-worker with her pastor husband Jason, went home to Jesus on March 22, 2015, after a long battle with breast cancer. As the cancer spread, Kara courageously embraced her situation, trusting in a Sovereign God. She believed that cancer was not the point, but Jesus was. As Kara and her family processed what God was calling them to live out, she invited her community to join her journey through this seemingly impossible ordeal—how would she trust God in the midst of sickness? And then, how would she trust God in the midst of dying?

In the fall of 2014, David C. Cook published her story, The Hardest Peace. She refused to be defined by cancer and considered every moment a gift and an opportunity to learn more about grace and trusting God; she believed suffering was not an absence of beauty, but an opportunity to understand God's love on a deeper level. Near the end of her life Kara wrote:

My little body has grown tired of the battle, and treatment is no longer helping. But what I see, what I know, what I have is Jesus. He has still given me breath, and with it I pray I would live well and fade well. By degrees doing both, living and dying, as I have moments left to live. I get to draw my people close, kiss them and tenderly speak love over their lives. I get to pray into eternity my hopes and fears for the moments of my loves. I get to laugh and cry and wonder over heaven. I do not feel like I have the courage for this journey, but I have Jesus—and he will provide. He has given me so much to be grateful for, and that gratitude, that wondering over his love, will cover us all. And it will carry us—carry us in ways we cannot comprehend.

So we are disciples on this long journey of obedience. How does this work for us? The author of Hebrews gives us a helpful strategy when we aren’t feeling it.

Hebrews 13:14–16 NIV

14 For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. 15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

The Best Is Yet to Come - We live in a world, culture that will not endure. Whatever our feelings are about our current situation, they will not endure. We look forward as disciples of King Jesus, of the New Heaven and the New Earth. Whatever we are experiencing now, it won’t last. Jesus will.

Through King Jesus - Through is such an important word here. Everything is funneled, directed through King Jesus. Whatever we are feeling, experiencing we find our identity, our next step, our life by surrendering to King Jesus.

Continually Bless God With Our Mouths - Sacrifice of praise, fruit of lips are two phrases that came about while the Jewish people were in exile. The Temple was gone. There was no place to worship. There was no place to sacrifice. So they shifted their focus to what they could do. They could speak, sing and lift their arms…as a sacrifice of praise, as the fruit of their lips. The author here gives this is a command to Christians to be intentional is verbalizing their praises. This means joining us for corporate worship services where we sings praises together. It means singing your songs during the week. It means reading through the psalms. It means praying. It can also be praying out loud. Here is what I will tell you, my best prayer times are the ones where I audibly speak them.

We Are Blessed to Be A Blessing - As we intentionally pursue blessing God we are lead to be a blessing to others. It’s like we experience God’s blessing and there is this overflow, this out pouring of his goodness, his Spirit that is ready to be shared through our words, our prayers, our service. We who are blessed…bless.

By choosing to bless God, our feelings are transformed into lives that experience and share God’s blessings.