Scripture: Psalms 126; Isaiah 43:16-21 and John 12:1-8 (Lent Five)
A message centered on Psalms 126 It is a song that has three major movements -
a. Verses 1-2 remind us to praise the LORD for all He has done for us
b. Verse 3 reminds us to praise the LORD in the here and now
c. Verses 4 - 6 challenges us to create a world of joy and fruitfulness
INTRO:
Grace and peace from God our Father and His Son Jesus who came to take away the sin of the world!
Over the next few weeks there is going to be a lot of traveling all over America. March Madness will be underway and we are in the beginning days of both softball and baseball. Millions of people will be traveling by car, by bus and by plane. They will be in those cars and buses for hours traveling from one city to the next. And it will be more than just the teams, it will be cheerleaders, band members, moms and dads, fans and students. I can remember when my high school started playing in all the different basketball tournaments that our pep band will go with them. We would travel to cheer them on and to get the crowd all fired up. In those days when we traveled usually there was someone who would try to get us to sing some songs to pass away the time. All of this was pre- mp3 players and DVD movies.
Do you remember singing any songs as you or your family took a trip? Maybe you were going to a game or perhaps you were on vacation. You wanted to pass some of the time so you would either listen to some music or try to sing some songs. Four of the greatest travel songs according to the Internet over the years has been the following:
Leaving on A Jet Plane (John Denver) , I've Been Everywhere Man (Johnny Cash) ,
Born to Be Wild (Stepppenwolf) On the Road Again (Willie Nelson).
Most of us here this morning have probably heard at least one or two of them or at least have tried to sing one or two of them.
Perhaps you didn't sing one of those but if you were traveling with some children there is a good chance that you might have sang one of these songs:
You are My Sunshine - The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round - Itsy Bitsy Spider.
Now, if you didn't sing one of those - how many of us have at least tried to sing - 99 bottles of beer (milk or coke for the more conservative set) on the wall?
This morning our passage in Psalms 126 is an ancient travel song. It is a part of the collection of pilgrim psalms that we find in the Book of Psalms (Psalms 120 to 134). Psalms 126 would have been sung as the pilgrims traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate one of the three major festivals (Passover, Shavuot (Pentecost) and Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles). The people would assemble together outside of their town. They would take the necessary time to ritually purify themselves and then under the direction of a pilgrim director would set off on their journey towards Jerusalem. The pilgrimage could take a day or two or as much as a week or more. The northern city of Dan was over 150 miles from Jerusalem. So, those that traveled from the area of Dan would have had to travel for at least 7 - 10 days or more depending on how many small children they were bringing. It took a great deal of commitment in those days to attend one of the festivals.
Along the way the pilgrim director would encourage everyone to sing. He would have with him a number of songs for them to sing and some new ones for them to learn along the way. There were a lot of great reasons why he would have wanted them to sing:
1. By singing they would come together as a group. They would form community.
2. Singing would enable them to take their minds off walking and by walking to the rhythm of music they would actually walk with less effort.
3. Singing was also an excellent way to get their hearts, minds and souls ready to worship and praise God before they got to Jerusalem.
4. Since most of the songs they sang were steeped in scripture, singing was a great way for them to remember the great stories of faith and to learn some new scripture as well.
5. Singing also allowed them to understand that their pilgrimage to Jerusalem was a special time. It was to be a special time to be with the LORD. It was to be a life changing time in all their lives.
The pilgrimage trips to Jerusalem were suppose to be out of the ordinary times. It was a time for these Jewish families to get away from their normal routine. It was a time to prepare their hearts and their souls to be drawn closer to the LORD. It was a time to move away from ordinary time, everyday life, to the more sacred and holy time in God's presence.
It the same thing that is supposed to happen each and every Sunday morning in the Lord's churches. Our trips here to this place, to this house of worship are to be different than say our trips to the store, or to a ball game or to a concert. Our coming here has been purposely designed by God to be out of the ordinary. God has designed our times with Him to set apart, to be holy and sacred.
Each week we are to come out of the ordinary pace of human life and come here and focus on our relationship with the LORD, with ourselves, with others and the world in which we live. As we come here each Sunday we are to come with prepared hearts, minds and souls to experience a unique time with the LORD and with the Body of Christ. We are to experience something that we cannot experience anywhere else. We are called by Him to spend some quality time in His Presence. From that time we shall experience more and more what it means to be restored in the image of Jesus.
What makes all of that happen? What can we do to make sure that something special does happen each and every Sunday morning in our lives and in the Lord's church? I believe:
+ It will happen as we gather and lift up the name of Jesus in praise and worship.
+ It will happen as we surrender ourselves to the will and the leading of the Holy Spirit.
+ It will happens as we take the focus off of ourselves and focus on our God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
+ It will happen when we come ready to be saturated in prayer, ready to praise and in full obedience mode.
When we don't come prepared to do those things and when we don't allow those things to happen - well then the whole time is rather boring to say the least. We all leave dulled and lacking in spirit and vitality. We leave with a bad taste in our souls. We come with nothing and we leave with nothing.
It's never God's fault. An electric light only functions when it is connected to the source of power. It can't pretend to be connected; it can't get close to being connected; it has to be connected. Anything less, and the electricity can't flow through the bulb, producing light. The same is true of our services - we must connect with the LORD.
Psalm 126 is a song that can help us this morning. Just as it helped those long ago get ready for worship and praise it can help us as well. It is a song that has three major movements -
a. It is a song that calls us to reflect and praise the LORD
b. It is a song that challenges us to praise the LORD in the here and now
c. It is a song that shows us how to experience true joy - the joy that comes when we are bearing fruit.
Let's take some time this morning to look at this song and allow it to help us grow in our faith walk with Jesus.
I. In the first two verses, the song is asking the people to reflect back on all the great things that God has done in their lives and in the lives of their people.
The song encouraged the people to look back and thank God for all the things that He had already done for them. As the people would sing verses 1 - 2 they were to reflect back on all the major times that the LORD has acted in man's favor - Creation, Noah and the Flood, the call of Father Abraham, Moses and the Exodus, the giving of the Covenant, the 10 Commandments and the Promise Land. They were to reflect back on the victories of King David and the peace and prosperity the nation shared under King Solomon. They were to remember how God built both the tabernacle and later the Temple just so He could be with His People.
They could look back and know that the God they worshipped was active in their lives. He was not a God who remained in heaven or a God who would not get involved in their lives. The LORD Jehovah was more than a construction of metal, wood or stone. The LORD Jehovah was an active and loving God.
Listen again to the words of verse 2
"Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, 'The LORD has done great things for them."'
Now, they were not being delusional in their singing as they traveled to Jerusalem. It wasn't as if they did not know their own history. As you read all the Psalms you understand that God's people had a firm grasp of their history. They understood that not all their days had been great days. Years ago they knew that they had been slaves in Egypt. They knew that they had suffered greatly but they also knew that their people had lead by the LORD to the Promise Land. They knew that under God's protection they had become a powerful kingdom. And they also knew that because of their sins the LORD had sent them into a time of exile. All of that was a part of their history, it was a part of who they were as a people. And through it all the LORD had been with them. He had been with them in Egypt, in the Promise Land and even in Babylon. They were able to sing because they knew God had protected them, forgiven them and delivered them time and time again.
It is important for us to look back in our history and reflect and praise the LORD. Christianity as a whole has had some great and not so great days. There have been some horrible things done in the name of Jesus. There have been some things that have caused the name of Jesus to be pulled through the mud because of individual and corporate sin.
Individual churches have had some great and not so great days. Like Israel we have seen great days in the church when we have been fully obedient and we have seen lean days as a result of our disobedience. We must praise the LORD for all our great times, thank the LORD for granting us grace during our lean times and repent over our rebellions and disobedience. We must depend completely each and every day on the power and presence of His Holy Spirit.
It is a sign of great spiritual maturity when we can reflect back and praise God for the times we have done well and the times when we have not done well. It is a sign of great spiritual maturity when we can confess our shortcomings ( our sins) as individuals and as a corporate body. For that is the only way we can experience revival is to be open and honest, confessing and growing in the LORD.
It is good for us to sing songs of remembrance. Songs like "A Mighty Fortress Is our God," "Great is Thy Faithfulness", "He is Able to Deliver Thee" and "Rock of Ages". Each of those song remind us of the greatness of God and remind us of how good God has been with us. We need to sing them with joy and with appreciation. We need to remind ourselves how God has been with us.
II. In verse three of this song the people are praising the LORD for present days.
As vital and important as it is to rejoice over the past this morning they understood that they did not live in the past. They believed that they should praise the LORD for present days. They believed that whether that present is pleasant, difficult or nearly impossible they were to still praise the LORD. So, as they traveled they would lift up songs praising the LORD for not only what He has done in the past but what He was presently doing in their lives.
For many that traveled to Jerusalem it was a time of great prosperity and peace in their lives. They could sing to the top of their voices about the majesty and greatness of God. Live was good for them and their families. It was easy for them to praise the LORD.
For others it was quite a different story. Their present days were good but not great. Still they would praise the Lord. Others found themselves in the midst of great suffering but they choose to lift up their voices and rejoice and praise the LORD. No doubt some had recently lost a loved one, had experienced a financial hardship or had endured a great loss. That would not keep them silent; they would praise the LORD for today as much as they praised the Lord for yesterday.
In Philippians 1:12-25, the Apostle Paul shares the difficulties that he was experiencing at that time. He tells us that he was isolated from his friends, he was unable to do what he wanted to do and he had lost a great deal of his individual privacy. He was chained 24/7 to one or more Roman soldiers. Can you imagine being chained to a soldier every hour of the day? There was no privacy in his life at all. Everywhere he went he had a soldier chained to his side. Yet, as we read those verses we can also imagine Paul singing a song like Psalms 126. Paul was not going to be defeated. He knew that when you praise the LORD in the here and now great things can happen.
We all know this morning that yesterday is gone. It is good to sing about the good old days. The truth is however, that all the great things and the bad things that happened years ago are now simple memories. You and I have only today. We are not promised a tomorrow so we better make the best us of today. And today we are called to worship and praise the LORD! Today we are to sing out songs of praise and adoration.
During the slave days when it got so hard on the slaves they would gather on a Sunday afternoon and sing songs like "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" but they would also sing songs like "Rock of Ages" and "Amazing Grace". They would sing songs like "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" and "A Little Talk with Jesus". All of these songs reminded them that while they could not change their circumstances they did not need to allow their slavery to destroy them. Instead, they could sing songs of praise and adoration to the LORD. Even though life was hard, they didn't get to get down. They could rise above their problems by praising the LORD.
You and I are encouraged to do the same. Today, we do not live in an exclusive Christian nation. We live in a pluralistic society in which a great many things that we see that the Bible condemns our world promotes, enjoys and even idolizes. We live in a world that is not worshipping the LORD or living a holiness lifestyle. Many today do not believe in the 10 Commandments. They do not believe that adultery, fornication and lying are wrong. They do not believe in our Lord Jesus at all.
We could all get together each Sunday and have a pity party. We could moan and groan and cry out to the LORD with despair and disgust. We could blame everything on Him. But it would not help us any. What we should do is cry out to the LORD to help our nation but in the midst of that sorrow we need to praise the LORD. We need to praise the LORD today for the miracles, for the signs and wonders He is doing in our midst. We need to praise the LORD today, for, it is in praising the LORD that we will experience a joy the world can never understand. It is praising the LORD that opens up the windows of heaven. Praising the LORD sends down the fires of revival and revival will transform everything.
Today, I believe we should sing songs like "Blessed Be Your Name," "Here I Am to Worship", "How Great Thou Art" and "Shout to the LORD". Today is the only day that we have and we are to praise the name of Jesus.
III. Thirdly, we see in verses four through six that song encourages us to look toward a bright future.
The Psalmist tells us to look for the future and to begin to plant the seeds for that bright future.
The Psalmist talks about those who sow in sorrow will reap with shouts of joy. Those who weep in sorrow will in the end bring home a great harvest.
What in the world is the Psalmist trying to tell us? What is the message our writer wanted to share? Melissa Miller shares with a story that I believe will help us understand. Years ago she heard a story about a man and his little son who were living in a third world country. Life for them was very difficult. It had been a difficult year and all the man had was a little bit of grain left over from his harvest. Most of the seed he had already used to feed his family. With the little that he had left, he took most of the grain and began sowing it in his field. It was time to plant a new crop. One of his children who was very hungry began to cry out to his father, "Daddy, why are you throwing our food on the ground?" The little boy thought his father was wasting precious food that he or one of the other children could eat. He did not understand what his father was doing.
His father lovingly looked at his child and shared this deep truth: "Son, if we eat our seed now, we will have nothing to eat next year. If we sow the seed we do have we can multiply it and reap a harvest later."
The father knew that while the remaining seed could be eaten now and provide some nourishment for his family that wasn't the best use of that seed. By sowing the seed he would get back a greater harvest. And from that harvest he would be able to feed his family for weeks and months to come.
There simply is no harvest without the sowing of some seed. And there is no harvest without some water being put on that seed.
Under the direction of Salvation Army General William Booth, hundreds of little rescue missions were planted all over the world. It was General Booth's dream to reach the worst of the worst of humanity. He believed that was the only way to transform society. He believed that if you could reach those who were enslaved by sin the most then revival would automatically happen. Through their salvation stories the flood gates of revival would pour out.
A story is told that two of his officers that were in charge of a rather difficult mission and wrote him asking permission to close their rescue mission. They had been there for some time and nothing was happening. No one was coming to Jesus and the persecution they were facing was taking a great toil on them. They believed that they would be best used in another location. They believed that the time was not ripe for this particular place to have a Salvation Army rescue mission.
General Booth received their message with great love and compassion. He fully understood the harshness of the area and the difficulties that these two men were facing. Many times he came home to his wife Catherine after being spit on or attacked violently by a mob. He knew firsthand what these two men were going through spiritually, emotionally and even physically. However, he also knew the power of the LORD. He knew the power of prayer and of perseverance. He sent back a two worded telegraph to the two young men - "TRY TEARS."
The two men received and understood the message. They understood that at times it takes more than just sowing the seed. It takes the:
+ tears of godly sorrow
+ the tears of intercessory prayer
+ the tears of hard toil and work to get the seed growing.
They went to praying like they had never prayed before and in just a few weeks lives all around the rescue mission were being transformed . People were being saved and homes were being rescued. The Lord took their tears of intercession and godly sorrow and caused the seed of the gospel to germinate and the harvest of lost souls was happening. Lives were changed because not only did they sow the seed, they saturated that seed with prayer - intercessory prayer - pray that drove them to tears.
It appears that General Booth knew the last verses of our psalm this morning. Those who sow in tears - in repentance, in sorrow, in intercession will reap with shouts or praise and joy. Those who go out weeping and spiritual watering the soil will come home with a great harvest.
Under Mrs. Mary Moore's direction our prayer room will soon be up and running. It will be a place of spiritual water works. It will be a place where we can add the "tears" of our hearts with the seed of the Gospel that we are sowing and we will reap a harvest in weeks and months to come. This is the way to victory - prayer, praise and proclamation.
This morning, please understand this truth:
+ we can invite all the people we want to each and every week but we will never harvest very many souls until we add the tears of godly sorrow and intercession.
We are in a spiritual battle and that battle can only be won through prayer, praise and proclamation. The tears that we shed for lost souls is vital if we are truly going to sow the seed of the LORD. Dry seed will not germinate. But seeds sowed with love - the love that will move us heart, mind and soul will germinate and bear fruit.
Just as it takes water for any garden to grow - it takes the tears of the saints of Jesus praying over the souls of others to receive a great harvest. We need both those who will sow the seed and those who will pray with broken hearts asking the LORD to bring forth the rain of revival. So many places fail to understand this very simple truth - they think that all they have to do is invite, invite and invite some more. They think that they have to have great program and do a lot of activities. What they fail to realize is that through prayer, through broken hearts praying for revival God sends great programs and leads great activities. We can't put the cart before the horse. There has to be great times of prayer - pray of repentance, pray of revival and pray of great intercession for there to be a great harvest. There is simply no other way.
Our Psalmist knows that in the days to come there is going to be great times at the upcoming festival. There will be holy events that will take place and there will be life giving opportunities. For many they will see the desert of their souls turned into paradise. It will all come through praise, prayer and proclamation.
This morning as we close, let us begin today to pray in earnest for lost souls. Let us commit to sowing the seeds we need to invite the lost and the unchurched. But let us also understand that it will be as a people on our knees crying out to the LORD for renewal and revival that we will bring forth the harvest that God wants us to experience. Let us close by singing that great old song - REVIVE US AGAIN.
And this morning, if that is truly your heart's mission:
+ to see souls won to Jesus
+to see people come to faith
+ to see miracles and sign and wonders in our midst you are invited to come and begin to sow the seeds of prayer. You are invited to come and pray for your family and friends that need Jesus. You are invited to come and pray for those in our community that need Jesus.
