Lesson: Psalm 78
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INTRODUCTION:
While waiting for her first
appointment in the reception room of a new dentist, a middle-aged woman noticed
the dentist’s certificate, which bore his full name. Suddenly, she remembered
that a tall, handsome boy with the same name had been in her high-school class
some 30-plus years ago.
Upon seeing him, however, she
quickly discarded any such thought. This balding, gray-haired man with a deeply
lined face was way too old to have been her classmate. After he had examined
her teeth, she asked him if he had attended the local high school.
“Yes,” he replied.
“When did you graduate?” she
asked.
He answered, “In 1967. Why?”
“You were in my class!” she
exclaimed.
He looked at her closely and then
asked, “What did you teach?”
I.
Now I wonder what happened next.
A.
Did she tell him that she was not the teacher but the
classmate?
B.
Did she tell him that they were the same age?
C.
Did she help him to understand that history may be seen
from different perspectives?
In the
movie Dead Poets Society, Mr. Keating is an English teacher at a New England
prep school for boys.[1]
The
school where Mr. Keating teaches is a strict and straight-laced sort of place.
The boys wear uniforms and walk in orderly lines. They learn the classics of
educational curriculum in much the same manner that boys did their schoolwork
for decades before them.
But Mr.
Keating takes it as his personal mission to create freethinkers out of these
boys who’ve been trained to walk in step. In one of his unconventional and
controversial English lessons, Mr. Keating jumps up on his desk at the front of
the class, and he looks around the room carefully. And he explains that he’s
standing on top of his desk to remind himself that we must constantly look at
things in a different way.
“You
see,” he explains, “the world looks very different from up here.” And then he
instructs his class to come up and stand on his desk, one at a time, and look
at the room from a different perspective than they’ve ever seen it before.
The boys
in the class look uncomfortable with this assignment. You can see uncertainty
in their faces as they shuffle up to the front of the class in their straight lines.
No one wants to be the first to climb up on the desk. No one wants to be the
first to look silly.
But they
climb up on the desk anyway, one at a time, and then hop off the other side.
And in some of their faces, there dawns this understanding that things do look different from a different perspective.
We’ve
got to look at things from different angles in order to see how things really
are.
D.
History provides the angles.
1.
For most people history is boring.
2.
So, why learn it?
a.
Why learn American history?
b.
Why learn the history of Wisconsin?
c.
Why learn the history of Arena?
d.
To answer this questions speak with one of the Arena
historians.
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I.
This Psalm was written to remind the people who lived in
the time of David to help them remember who they were and where they had come
from.
A.
It rehearses the benefits of the leadership of God, and
the dangers of forgetting God.
B.
The psalmist, considering that it is God’s command that
his works be not forgotten.
C.
The father should deliver God’s former doings to
posterity, that they might be to the learner both comfort and instruction,
deter them from sin, and persuade them to fear God.
D.
There is in this Psalm a long catalogue of God’s dealings
with his people, even from their coming out of Egypt to the conclusion of the
reign of David.
II.
There are three principal parts in this Psalm:[2]
1.
A preface, in which the psalmist exhorts men to learn and
declare the way of God, verses 1-9.
2.
A continued narrative of God’s administration among the
people, and their stubborn ness, disobedience, and contumacy; together with the
punishments which God inflicted upon them, verses 9-67.
3.
His mercy, manifested in the midst of judgment; that he
did not cut them off, but, after the rejection of Ephraim, (Israel), made
choice of Judah, Zion, and David.
B.
In the PREFACE
or exordium he labors to gain attention: “Give ear, O my people,” verse 1.
1.
Shows that he is about to deliver doctrines and precepts
from heaven. It is God’s law, and it should be heard:
a.
For its excellence, verse 2.
b.
For its certainty, verse 3.
2.
He shows the end, which is another argument for attention.
a.
It must not be hidden from their children, that God might
be praised, verse 4.
b.
And his power magnified;
c.
His people edified, verse 5.
3.
Then follow the duties of their children, which are three:
a.
That they might know God, his law, his works, verse 6.
b.
That they might trust in him, verse 7.
c.
That they might be obedient, verse 8.
C.
The NARRATION.
Their fathers were stubborn and rebellious, of which he gives several examples:
1.
In Ephraim: “They turned back in the day of battle,” verse
9.
2.
They kept not the covenant of God, verse 10.
3.
They forgot his works in Egypt, verse 11.
D.
The psalmist extends this narrative, and shows,
1.
God’s goodness;
2.
Israel’s obstinacy;
3.
Their punishment.
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III.
This is an old, old story
A.
In Deuteronomy, the whole people of Israel were taught my
Moses to teach their children.
1Now this
is the commandment—the statutes and the ordinances—that the LORD your God
charged me to teach you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into
and occupy, 2so that you and your children and your children’s
children may fear the LORD your God all the days of your life, and keep all his
decrees and his commandments that I am commanding you, so that your days may be
long. 3Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe them diligently, so
that it may go well with you, and so that you may multiply greatly in a land
flowing with milk and honey, as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, has
promised you.
4Hear, O
Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. 5You shall love the LORD
your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. 6Keep
these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. 7Recite
them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are
away, when you lie down and when you rise. 8Bind them as a sign on
your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, 9and write them
on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, (Deuteronomy 6:1-9, NRSVA).
B.
Joshua upon entering the promised land raised up a
monument with stones taken from the Jordan River
19The
people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they
camped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. 20Those twelve
stones, which they had taken out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal, 21saying
to the Israelites, “When your children ask their parents in time to come,
>What do these stones mean?’ 22then you shall let your children
know, >Israel crossed over the Jordan here on dry ground.’ 23For
the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you crossed
over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until
we crossed over, 24so that all the peoples of the earth may know
that the hand of the LORD is mighty, and so that you may fear the LORD your God
forever,” (Joshua 4:19-24, NRSVA).
C.
Again writing in 1 Corinthians 10 he says:
1I do not
want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under
the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2and all were baptized
into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3and all ate the same
spiritual food, 4and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they
drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. 5Nevertheless,
God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the
wilderness.
6Now
these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as
they did. 7Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is
written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.” 8We
must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three
thousand fell in a single day. 9We must not put Christ to the test,
as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. 10And do not
complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11These
things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to
instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. 12So if you
think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. (1 Corinthians 10:1-12,
NRSVA).
D.
Paul in the book of Romans writes:
“For
whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by
steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope,”
(Romans 15:4 NRSVA).
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IV.
These things were written to serve as an example.
A.
If you don’t know the example, how will you avoid the
happenings of the people who serve as an example?
B.
Kari Myers, “Being good when you feel bad,”[3]
observes:
Sickness,
stress and sleep deprivation are three things that can really do a number on a
person’s disposition. Don’t ask me how I know this. I just do. Maybe you know
it, too. It is hard to be good when we don’t feel good. When we feel bad,
physically or emotionally, we tend not to handle things as well as we would on
a good day. Bad days can tempt us to focus inward. If they persist we can fall
into self-pity or become obsessed with improving our situation. We can become
self-absorbed, self-serving or just plain selfish.
But it
does not have to be so. Jesus showed us another way. At the moment of his
betrayal to an angry mob who would take him to a cruel death, he healed the
servant of his enemy. On the worst of days, as he was unjustly arrested and
threatened, he responded with compassion. In the midst of his own pain he took
notice of and tended to the pain of another. Jesus loved in good times and bad.
So
feeling bad is not an excuse. It’s a test. Bad days are a test of character.
They show how closely, or not so closely, we’re following the example of
Christ. They also build character. In his letter to the Romans Paul calls us
not just to endure suffering, but to rejoice in it. For “suffering produces
perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope” (5:3-4 NIV). So the
next time things take a turn for the worse let’s look for ways to serve others.
We can be good even when we feel bad.
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CONCLUSION:
I.
We remember Israel and we learn from them.
A.
The stories are sometimes depressing
B.
The stories may be exciting.
C.
The history is never boring.
II.
We are not Israel, we are JESUS PEOPLE.
A.
We learn from Jesus.
1.
We learn and remember what he can teach us about life.
2.
What life is and what life is not.
3.
We learn how to live.
B.
We learn how to live with faith and love in hope.
TELL ME
THE STORY OF JESUS
Fanny
Crosby
Tell me
the story of Jesus,
Write on my heart every word.
Tell me the story most precious,
Sweetest that ever was heard.
Tell how the angels in chorus,
Sang as they welcomed His birth.”
Glory to God in the highest!
Peace and good tidings to earth.”
Refrain
Tell me
the story of Jesus,
Write on my heart every word.
Tell me the story most precious,
Sweetest that ever was heard.
Fasting
alone in the desert,
Tell of the days that are past.
How for our sins He was tempted,
Yet was triumphant at last.
Tell of the years of His labor,
Tell of the sorrow He bore.
He was despised and afflicted,
Homeless, rejected and poor.
Refrain
Tell of
the cross where they nailed Him,
Writhing in anguish and pain.
Tell of the grave where they laid Him,
Tell how He liveth again.
Love in that story so tender,
Clearer than ever I see.
Stay, let me weep while you whisper,
Love paid the ransom for me.
Refrain
III.
The history of Jesus is a history we need to learn so that
we can grow into his life’s example.
Amen!
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[1]Mark Williams, ATo seek out and to save the lost,@ Woodland Park UMC Web Site,
November 4, 2001.
[2]For part of this sermon analysis I
am deeply indebted to the commentary in Adam
Clarkes Commentary on the Old Testament. Electronic Edition STEP Files
Copyright 8 1999, Parsons Technology, Inc. Clarke, Adam Parsons
Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Analysis of the Seventy-eighth Psalm
[3]Kari Myers, ABeing good when you feel bad,@ The Link, March 2006.