Here's my sermon for Sunday evening:
Psalm 40 1 I waited patiently for the LORD;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
Firefighters and paramedics rush to the scene. Blue lights flash, engines snarl. But this isn’t real life – it’s a dramtic reconstruction on telly – it says so at the bottom of the screen.
Today we start a series on David. We’ll be with him till the middle of July. And we begin with Psalm 40. We’ll see the stories over the coming weeks – David fighting, David ruling, David lying, David on the run, and so on. But here, David opens his heart to us by giving us a dramatic reconstruction of one time that God rescued him. God was always rescuing David, so there’s no point speculating on the particular circumstances of this rescue. The point is that David knows what it’s like to be in trouble, and he knows what it’s like to wait for God to act when it seems like God isn’t interested, and he knows what it’s like when God finally does show up and hear his cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
The second most important thing to know about David as a worshipper is that he never forgets he’s been rescued by God. Real worshippers always feel like that, they say things like “I was down and out” or “I was blind and now I see” or “I was in a black hole”. And we – even if we know them quite well – might be surprised and say “hang on, you weren’t that bad, we were there, we thought you were doing OK”. But worshippers know themselves better than we know them – they know that they needed God to rescue them.
So here’s where I talk about worship at St Michael’s. Oh, we do our best, and we sing the songs, though sometimes we find it hard to concentrate. But God is calling on us to do a bit more than go through the motions.
Here are the words of PT Forsyth:
“We want the breathless awe and the stammering tongue and the solemn wonder and the passionate gratitude which are the true note of grace. We want the new song of those taken from the fearful pit and the miry clay with the trembling still upon them and the slime still moist”
So when my worship gets a bit stale and dutiful – and it frequently does – the first questions I need to ask myself are about whether I’ve forgotten I needed rescuing. As Philip Greenslade puts it, “Is my slime, as it were, still moist? Do I smell singed? The forgiven love much; the rescued love even more; the dramatically rescued love most of all.”
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
I said the second most important thing about David as a worshipper is that he never forgets he’s been rescued from danger in this dramatic reconstruction. The MOST important thing is to see how secure he feels now. It’s not “I was in a slimy pit, God rescued me, but any minute now he’s going to let go and I’ll end up back in the slime.” No, it’s “I was slipping, but now my feet are on a rock.” People who don’t know how completely secure and loved they are in God are never going to be worshippers like David.
Many will see and fear the LORD
and put their trust in him.
Once you start worshipping – in the whole of life, not just a Sunday evening – you’ll be amazed at your audience. People will see it, and it will make a difference. Nietzsche put it this way: “I would only consider conversion if Christians looked more redeemed”.
4 Blessed is the one
who trusts in the LORD,
who does not look to the proud,
to those who turn aside to false gods.
5 Many, LORD my God,
are the wonders you have done,
the things you planned for us.
None can compare with you;
were I to speak and tell of your deeds,
they would be too many to declare.
There is no shortage of things to praise God for, says David. And as we’ll discover in this series, whether he’s at a high point or a low point, lamenting or celebrating, David always seems to have something to worship God about. In this Psalm alone, you might argue that he looks backwards in praise in verses 1-3, he looks upward in praise in verses 4-5, he looks inward in praise in verses 6-8, he looks outward to others in verses 9-10, he looks forward to his future needs in verses 11-13 and he praises God for his future help in the rest of the Psalm. There’s always a reason to worship.
6 Sacrifice and offering you did not desire—
but my ears you have opened--
When we hear “my ears you have opened” we naturally think he means “you help me listen”. But this probably refers to a bizarre custom by which slaves who didn’t want to be freed had a wooden peg driven through the flap of their ear onto a doorpost. The point is: God you rescued me and set me free, but I choose to serve you – and that’s more important to you than my religious practice:
burnt offerings and sin offeringsyou did not require.
7 Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—
it is written about me in the scroll.
He’s got a new script – he’s been written in! He has a part in the drama. It’s like David is improvising as part of the ongoing story of God’s people. Chapter 1: God makes a wonderful world but it all goes wrong. Chapter 2: God chooses a people. Chapter 3: God steps into the story in the person of Jesus. Chapter 4: The church spreads across the whole world. Chapter 5: God puts the world to rights. David’s part is in Chapter 2, our part is in Chapter 4, either way we contribute to the ongoing story of God’s love for the world.
8 I desire to do your will, my God;
your law is within my heart.”
These are words that we find on Jesus’ own lips in Hebrews 10. Worship for David and Jesus is not just a matter of getting the outside right or the words right – it’s a matter of the heart, the desires and the will.
9 I proclaim your saving acts in the great assembly;
I do not seal my lips, LORD,
as you know.
10 I do not hide your righteousness in my heart;
I speak of your faithfulness and your saving help.
I do not conceal your love and your faithfulness
from the great assembly.
11 Do not withhold your mercy from me, LORD;
may your love and faithfulness always protect me.
I don’t withhold from others how I feel about you, says David to God; now don’t you withhold your blessings from me. Our translation doesn’t make it clear, but the same word is used of David not withholding his praise and God not withholding his blessing. “God, neither of us are stingy or mean, we’re going to pour out worship and grace”.
So here are my four resolutions for myself about worship:
a) I’m going to spend time whenever I worship rerunning a dramatic reconstruction in my mind – I really did need rescuing, and God really did come to the rescue.
b) I’m going to spend time whenever I worship basking in how secure I am in God’s love.
c) I’m going to generous with my praise – even when I’m in public
d) I’m going to expect God to bless me as I worship.
If those four resolutions don’t get me worshipping better, I don’t know what will.
12 For troubles without number surround me;
my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see.
They are more than the hairs of my head,
and my heart fails within me.
13 Be pleased to save me, LORD;
come quickly, LORD, to help me.
So now David turns from worship to prayer. It’s a natural progression, and it happens all the time with David one way or another – one moment he’s worshipping, the next moment he’s praying, the next moment he’s worshipping again. He doesn’t always get it right – take this next bit:
14 May all who want to take my life
be put to shame and confusion;
may all who desire my ruin
be turned back in disgrace.
15 May those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!”
be appalled at their own shame.
Not quite, David – but hey, I’ve never had a psalm included in the bible, so who am I to judge! And at least he’s talking to God about it, not just moaning to himself or other people like we do. When God said David was a man after his own heart, I don’t think he meant he always got it right – he meant he never stopped searching after God’s heart, and never stopped God coming to search for his.
16 But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who long for your saving help always say,
“The LORD is great!”
17 But as for me, I am poor and needy;
may the Lord think of me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
you are my God, do not delay.
So hurry up, God! Do not dealy! Which is a weird way to finish a Psalm that started by saying that he’s learned to wait. There’s an urgency to praise and prayer – because we can’t get enough of the God who rescues us, and all eternity will be too short to say “The Lord is great!”
Psalm 40 1 I waited patiently for the LORD;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
Firefighters and paramedics rush to the scene. Blue lights flash, engines snarl. But this isn’t real life – it’s a dramtic reconstruction on telly – it says so at the bottom of the screen.
Today we start a series on David. We’ll be with him till the middle of July. And we begin with Psalm 40. We’ll see the stories over the coming weeks – David fighting, David ruling, David lying, David on the run, and so on. But here, David opens his heart to us by giving us a dramatic reconstruction of one time that God rescued him. God was always rescuing David, so there’s no point speculating on the particular circumstances of this rescue. The point is that David knows what it’s like to be in trouble, and he knows what it’s like to wait for God to act when it seems like God isn’t interested, and he knows what it’s like when God finally does show up and hear his cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
The second most important thing to know about David as a worshipper is that he never forgets he’s been rescued by God. Real worshippers always feel like that, they say things like “I was down and out” or “I was blind and now I see” or “I was in a black hole”. And we – even if we know them quite well – might be surprised and say “hang on, you weren’t that bad, we were there, we thought you were doing OK”. But worshippers know themselves better than we know them – they know that they needed God to rescue them.
So here’s where I talk about worship at St Michael’s. Oh, we do our best, and we sing the songs, though sometimes we find it hard to concentrate. But God is calling on us to do a bit more than go through the motions.
Here are the words of PT Forsyth:
“We want the breathless awe and the stammering tongue and the solemn wonder and the passionate gratitude which are the true note of grace. We want the new song of those taken from the fearful pit and the miry clay with the trembling still upon them and the slime still moist”
So when my worship gets a bit stale and dutiful – and it frequently does – the first questions I need to ask myself are about whether I’ve forgotten I needed rescuing. As Philip Greenslade puts it, “Is my slime, as it were, still moist? Do I smell singed? The forgiven love much; the rescued love even more; the dramatically rescued love most of all.”
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
I said the second most important thing about David as a worshipper is that he never forgets he’s been rescued from danger in this dramatic reconstruction. The MOST important thing is to see how secure he feels now. It’s not “I was in a slimy pit, God rescued me, but any minute now he’s going to let go and I’ll end up back in the slime.” No, it’s “I was slipping, but now my feet are on a rock.” People who don’t know how completely secure and loved they are in God are never going to be worshippers like David.
Many will see and fear the LORD
and put their trust in him.
Once you start worshipping – in the whole of life, not just a Sunday evening – you’ll be amazed at your audience. People will see it, and it will make a difference. Nietzsche put it this way: “I would only consider conversion if Christians looked more redeemed”.
4 Blessed is the one
who trusts in the LORD,
who does not look to the proud,
to those who turn aside to false gods.
5 Many, LORD my God,
are the wonders you have done,
the things you planned for us.
None can compare with you;
were I to speak and tell of your deeds,
they would be too many to declare.
There is no shortage of things to praise God for, says David. And as we’ll discover in this series, whether he’s at a high point or a low point, lamenting or celebrating, David always seems to have something to worship God about. In this Psalm alone, you might argue that he looks backwards in praise in verses 1-3, he looks upward in praise in verses 4-5, he looks inward in praise in verses 6-8, he looks outward to others in verses 9-10, he looks forward to his future needs in verses 11-13 and he praises God for his future help in the rest of the Psalm. There’s always a reason to worship.
6 Sacrifice and offering you did not desire—
but my ears you have opened--
When we hear “my ears you have opened” we naturally think he means “you help me listen”. But this probably refers to a bizarre custom by which slaves who didn’t want to be freed had a wooden peg driven through the flap of their ear onto a doorpost. The point is: God you rescued me and set me free, but I choose to serve you – and that’s more important to you than my religious practice:
burnt offerings and sin offeringsyou did not require.
7 Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—
it is written about me in the scroll.
He’s got a new script – he’s been written in! He has a part in the drama. It’s like David is improvising as part of the ongoing story of God’s people. Chapter 1: God makes a wonderful world but it all goes wrong. Chapter 2: God chooses a people. Chapter 3: God steps into the story in the person of Jesus. Chapter 4: The church spreads across the whole world. Chapter 5: God puts the world to rights. David’s part is in Chapter 2, our part is in Chapter 4, either way we contribute to the ongoing story of God’s love for the world.
8 I desire to do your will, my God;
your law is within my heart.”
These are words that we find on Jesus’ own lips in Hebrews 10. Worship for David and Jesus is not just a matter of getting the outside right or the words right – it’s a matter of the heart, the desires and the will.
9 I proclaim your saving acts in the great assembly;
I do not seal my lips, LORD,
as you know.
10 I do not hide your righteousness in my heart;
I speak of your faithfulness and your saving help.
I do not conceal your love and your faithfulness
from the great assembly.
11 Do not withhold your mercy from me, LORD;
may your love and faithfulness always protect me.
I don’t withhold from others how I feel about you, says David to God; now don’t you withhold your blessings from me. Our translation doesn’t make it clear, but the same word is used of David not withholding his praise and God not withholding his blessing. “God, neither of us are stingy or mean, we’re going to pour out worship and grace”.
So here are my four resolutions for myself about worship:
a) I’m going to spend time whenever I worship rerunning a dramatic reconstruction in my mind – I really did need rescuing, and God really did come to the rescue.
b) I’m going to spend time whenever I worship basking in how secure I am in God’s love.
c) I’m going to generous with my praise – even when I’m in public
d) I’m going to expect God to bless me as I worship.
If those four resolutions don’t get me worshipping better, I don’t know what will.
12 For troubles without number surround me;
my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see.
They are more than the hairs of my head,
and my heart fails within me.
13 Be pleased to save me, LORD;
come quickly, LORD, to help me.
So now David turns from worship to prayer. It’s a natural progression, and it happens all the time with David one way or another – one moment he’s worshipping, the next moment he’s praying, the next moment he’s worshipping again. He doesn’t always get it right – take this next bit:
14 May all who want to take my life
be put to shame and confusion;
may all who desire my ruin
be turned back in disgrace.
15 May those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!”
be appalled at their own shame.
Not quite, David – but hey, I’ve never had a psalm included in the bible, so who am I to judge! And at least he’s talking to God about it, not just moaning to himself or other people like we do. When God said David was a man after his own heart, I don’t think he meant he always got it right – he meant he never stopped searching after God’s heart, and never stopped God coming to search for his.
16 But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who long for your saving help always say,
“The LORD is great!”
17 But as for me, I am poor and needy;
may the Lord think of me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
you are my God, do not delay.
So hurry up, God! Do not dealy! Which is a weird way to finish a Psalm that started by saying that he’s learned to wait. There’s an urgency to praise and prayer – because we can’t get enough of the God who rescues us, and all eternity will be too short to say “The Lord is great!”
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