Psalm 134 | A Life Worth Pursuing

Today we arrive at the last Psalm in the Psalms of Ascents.

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We started in a distant land: Meshech and Kedar in Psalm 120 and now end our journey in Jerusalem and the temple.

Psalm 134 can be divided into two section: man blesses God & God blesses man.

Our text today reveals the following life transforming truth: those who commit their lives to bless God are blessed by God.

Why is this life transforming?

It’s a life worth pursuing.

What does that look like?

God’s people blesses God

Psalm 134:1-2 “1 Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who stand by night in the house of the Lord! 2 Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the Lord!”

These verses address the temple workers.

1 Chronicles 23:28-30 “28 For their duty was to assist the sons of Aaron for the service of the house of the Lord, having the care of the courts and the chambers, the cleansing of all that is holy, and any work for the service of the house of God. 29 Their duty was also to assist with the showbread, the flour for the grain offering, the wafers of unleavened bread, the baked offering, the offering mixed with oil, and all measures of quantity or size. 30 And they were to stand every morning, thanking and praising the Lord, and likewise at evening,”

Although God had set aside the tribe of Levi to serve as priests, his heart was for all of his people to serve as priests.

Exodus 19:6 “and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”

We see this promised fulfilled in the NT. The following words are written to believers in Christ:

1 Peter 2:5 “5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

1 Peter 2:9 “9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (c.f. Rev 5:10)

Psalm 134 applies to all the NT Christians.

The invitation is simple. It is stated twice: Bless the Lord!

“Come, bless the Lord!”

Lift up your hands and bless the Lord!

What does it mean to bless the Lord? How can finite creatures bless the infinite creator?

The invitation to bless God is one that appears throughout the Bible, specially in the Psalms.

In Hebrew, “to bless” expresses the idea of “praise.”

In English, “to bless” comes from the Latin “to say that something is good.”

To bless God is to declare through praise and thanksgiving who he is and what he has done.

Psalm 34:1-3 “1 I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2 My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad. 3 Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!”

Psalm 72:18 “18 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things.

Psalm 103:1-5 “1 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5 who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

Psalms 124:6 “6 Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as prey to their teeth!”

To bless God is to declare through praise and thanksgiving who he is and what he has done.

One of the practical ways you and I can bless the Lord is by engaging in worship. As followers of Jesus, one of the dangers we will face is the danger of going through the motions when we worship (public & private).

One of the ways we bless the Lord and fight off going through the motions is by engaging in worship.

“Come, bless the Lord!”

Lift up your hands and bless the Lord!

Must I lift my hands in worship?

Things I can do to engage in worship:

lifting our hands (Ps 63:4)

bowling down or kneeling (Ps 95:6)

Kneeling with hands lifted up (1 Kings 8:54)

falling flat on our faces (Neh 8:6)

dancing: Miriam (Ex 15:20), David (2 Sam 6:14-16)

Standing (Lev 9:5)

clapping (Ps 47:1)

Shouting (Ps 81:1)

As you can see the Bible encourages us to use our bodies to express our devotion to God as long as long as you are not drawing attention to yourself (1 Corinthians 14:37).

The most important thing to engage in worship is both our minds and our hearts (spirit & truth)

Isaiah 29:13 “And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,”

One of the ways we bless the Lord and fight off going through the motions is by engaging in worship.

“Come, bless the Lord!”

Lift up your hands and bless the Lord!

God Blesses His People

Psalm 134:3 “3 May the Lord bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth!”

Here we see God blessing his people. Regarding this verse Derek Kidner writes:

But the exchange is quite unequal: to bless God is to acknowledge gratefully what he is; but to bless man, God must make of him what he is not, and give him what he has not. Derek Kidner

Those who commit their lives to bless God are blessed by God.

If this Psalm teaching works-salvation? NO!

Throughout the Bible we see that salvation is by grace and grace alone.

Exodus 19:4-6 “4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.””

This three verses can be divided into three sections:

What the Lord has done (4)

What the Lord requires (5a)

What the Lord promises (5b-6a)

The sequence of the three sections is extremely important for our understanding of the Old Testament and, indeed, of the whole Bible and of our place as the covenant people within it. The sequence is the saving acts of the Lord (1), our response of obedience (2) and the blessings which obedience brings (3). Nothing must ever be allowed to upset this order. Alec Motyer.

God didn’t show in Egypt with the 10 commandments saying, if you obey me I will save you. Instead, God saved them first and then said, obey me.

Religion says, “I obey, therefore I am saved.”

Gospel says, “I am saved, therefore I obey.” #hugedifference

Ephesians 1:3-4 “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

Ephesians 2:8-10 “8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Good works and obedience are part of the salvation package. We want to walk in obedience out of love and gratitude to God and not because we want to get things from him. Grace is my motivation for obedience.

Obedience is a very important, often neglected life principle.

Psalm 134 reveals the following wonderful truth: those who commit their lives to bless God are blessed by God.

Ezra 7:9-10 “9 For on the first day of the first month he began to go up from Babylonia, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, for the good hand of his God was on him. 10 For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.”

Gospel prosperity!

2 Chronicles 16:9 “9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.””

Those who commit their lives to bless God are blessed by God.

Is there something that God has asked you to do? Something you need to repent of?

The blessing here echoes the blessing of Numbers 6:24-26 “24 The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”