Sermon Tone Analysis

psalm 30

Remembering God’s faithfulness

Pre-intro

Good morning church

I hope you have been able to watch the Avalanche play.

You probably know I am a big sports fan and I’m excited that the Avs are up 2-0 in the Stanley Cup.

I also want to wish you a Happy Father’s Day.

I know oftentimes, there are a lot of mixed emotions that can come with Father’s Day.

But I wanted to wish all of you fathers, uncles, grandfathers, all of those people in our lives, a Happy Father’s Day, even in the midst of all of those emotions.

It's always a blessing to have the Word of God read to us, so thank you to Jeff

It seems like I get asked every week who takes care of the churches grass

That's the guy

Last week, I got asked the question if the church had astro-turf and the answer is no.

Jeff is just really good at taking care of the grass.

To be honest I’m glad he was able to read so that I don't have to answer that question anymore.

He and his wife Lynn serve the church in a variety of ways, so please get to know them.

I truly think it will bless you and them

Intro

Many protestant denominations believe it's important for the Word to be read out loud.

One of the first times I experienced that in a church setting, was at an Anglican church in Colorado Springs.

It was my first year working for a church camp called Eagle lake with the Navigators almost ten years ago.

Camp for Eagle Lake was 10 weeks long.

So we would get new campers every Sunday to start a new week of camp

On Sundays, we had the morning to go to a local church before new campers would arrive.

So some friends and I piled into a car and went to an Anglican church that our friend had really wanted to visit.

We went there and everything went great.

We were encouraged, got to learn about the Anglican faith, and were ready to head back to camp

So the five of us jumped into an early 2000 ford escape and got on to I-25 to head back.

If you know anything about cars, or specifically recalls on cars (which I don’t know why you would), the 2001-2004 models of ford escape had a very unique recall

This is the statement of the official recall “Ford Motor Co. is recalling about 485,000 units of the Escape SUV from the 2001-04 model years to check for a damaged cruise-control cable that could cause the throttle to stick open”

We happened to be in one of those Escapes

So my friend set the cruise control

That cable was apparently damaged

and our throttle cable was stuck open on I-25

Before we knew it we were going 100+ mph

So my friend Dillion had the reaction that any of us would

He started slamming on the brakes

Because he was slamming on the brakes, I remember being able to smell the brakes and see the smoke coming from the tires.

I remember honking at people to get out of the way

We were swerving in and out of traffic trying to avoid some sort of accident.

And there was this moment when time almost stopped and I remember thinking to myself, “I might die.”

And then one of my friends asked me, “what do we do?”

My first response was, “pray”

And my second answer was to call 911.

Eventually, we put the car in neutral and the engine exploded

Engine oil burst all over the car windshield and we couldn't see.

We were eventually able to pull the emergency brakes because our other brakes were out

and get the car to stop on the side of the road.

Let me tell you this, I can’t remember a time in my life when I was more grateful for gravity and cars that stop.

When was the last time you were grateful for gravity and cars that stopped?

Being in a car that can’t stop makes you really thankful for a car that can stop.

Even still when I remember that story, I grow in gratitude for brakes and cruise control that work, and just for life itself and being able to stand on God’s green earth.

Pre-Message

Today as we continue our series in the book of Psalms, many people believe that David is writing this Psalm after a near-death experience

Maybe some of you have near-death experiences as well.

But what typically happens when you escape death is a reorientation of how you look at the world

Just like when I got out of the car, I was happy to stand on the ground, maybe for the first time ever in my life.

Often times when we understand just how close we were to losing something, we begin to become more thankful for it.

That's why Psalm 30 is a thanksgiving Psalm, because David is remembering this rescue that leads him to thanksgiving.

So before we dig in and see what David says, let’s pray

Message

The title of this Psalm leads us to the near-death experience that David may be writing about here.

The title we have for Psalm 30 is “ A Psalm of David.

A song at the dedication of the temple.”

These titles in the Psalms can become tools for us,

They help us understand the intent of the author and context on what is maybe happening in the author’s life

The first thing we see is that Psalm 30, is a Psalm of David.

David was a great King of Isreal

So this is a Psalm that is written by David

The second part we see in our title is that Psalm 30 was meant to be sung at the dedication of the temple

What’s interesting about this is that at this point in Isreal's history, they don't have a temple.

But this title provides a clue of where we should hone in on David’s life, so we can try to understand the emotions and meaning behind this Psalm.

The clue that it gives us is the word, “temple”

It is the same Greek word that is found in the account of 1 Chronicles 21 and 22.

These chapters mention points in David's life where he talks about dedicating and building a temple for the Lord.

So what we want to do is try to connect these two places in Scripture so that we can gain a better understanding of both of them.

1 Chronicles 21 gives us some insight into why David was experiencing the emotions he was as he is writing this Psalm

At the beginning of this chapter, we see that Satan is standing against Israel and he entices David to take a census.

David does this census purely to number Israel for his own gain

He wanted to see just how great Israel was under his reign, out of pride.

So he sends Joab, the commander of his army, to do this census

Joab doesn’t think it’s a good idea but does it anyway.

They eventually count 1.1 million men who drew the sword in Israel and close to a half-million in Judah.

This is where we pick up in verse 7.

So if you have your Bibles please turn to 1 Chronicles 21:7-18

So really crazy story, right?

Let me try to recap so we can all get on the same page.

David takes a census and over a million people are now in the nation of Isreal.

Now taking a census was not a sin

But the motivation behind it was self-centered

God being the one who knows hearts, saw this and was angry

Because David had forgotten that he was first a lowly shepherd

and that it was God who had given him life abundant

David’s victories and greatness had come from God, not himself

So God by his grace disciplines David and Israel for this.

It was actually good for David and for Israel that God disciplined them.

Otherwise, they would have completely fallen, and Israel itself would have fallen.

They would have run away from where life resides in God, and probably put their faith in David.

God gives David three options for the consequences of David’s sin, not necessarily atonement for his sin

Because consequences are not what pays for sins, but atonement does