September 7, Psalms of Wisdom, Sunday School Rally Day, Grandparent’s Day

Lesson: Psalm 37

Sermon Title: Walking In the Light

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INTRODUCTION:

Skim Milk^[1]

To help a friend lose weight, I told her that she should switch to lower-fat foods, including skim milk. When she said her family would drink only whole milk, I suggested that she keep their regular container and refill it with skim milk. This worked for quite a while, until her daughter asked one morning whether the milk was okay.

"Sure, it's fine," my friend answered, fearing she had been found out. "Why do you ask?"

The daughter explained, "Well, according to the expiration date, this milk expired two years ago!"

I.                   That’s a bit how I feel about the Democratic and Republican Conventions

A.                 The Conventions are over.

1.                   The candidates are affirmed.

2.                  The acceptance speeches have been given.

B.                 Promises have been made.

1.                   Promises that remind me of the Republican slogan used in the 1928 presidential campaign.

2.                  A "chicken in every pot. And a car in every backyard, to boot."

“Chicken in Every Pot" is a quotation that is perhaps one of the most mis-assigned in American political history...It is most often associated with Herbert Hoover...Although Hoover never uttered the phrase, the Republican Party did use it in a 1928 campaign advertisement touting a period of "Republican prosperity" that had provided a "chicken in every pot. And a car in every backyard, to boot."^[2]

Despite a landslide victory over Alfred Smith,...the Republican Party's promise of prosperity was derailed seven months after Hoover took the oath of office. The stock market crash of 1929 plunged the country into the Great Depression and people eventually lost confidence in Hoover.^[3]

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MAIN BODY

I.                   We ought not to be misled by the grandiose promises that are designed to gain our support.

A.                 Barack Obama and John McCain are not gods.

1.                   Neither one of the is the messiah.

2.                  Instead of being mesmerized by the candidates we ought to listen to an old man speak of God.

3.                  It is not this old man.

B.                 We are speaking about the writer of this psalm, who is logically King David in his latter years.

1.                   I have been young, and now am old, (Psalm 37.25)

2.                  He has become wise.

3.                  He would share his wisdom with us.

C.                 So what are we looking for?

New Shopper (A true story)^[4]

I used to live in New Brunswick, New Jersey, the home of Rutgers University.

The new flock of kids attending college always includes those who need a little help with everyday chores they themselves never did before, such as laundry or grocery-shopping.

I was in the dairy aisle for some eggs. As usual, I opened the carton to check them over before putting them in my cart. Beside me, a young man did the same to his carton...then leaned toward me and asked, "What are we looking for?"

D.                We are looking for wisdom.

II.                Wisdom psalms are identified as such because of their similarity to the genre of wisdom literature found in Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes.

A.                 This similarity includes similarity in literary devices as well as similarity in content.

B.                 Wisdom literature in general tends to contrast the life choices made by those who reject God (e.g. the foolish or the wicked) with those who embrace God's rule (the wise or righteous).

C.                 God pronounces judgments on those who reject him, while he offers blessings those who obey.

III.             This Psalm is wholly didactic (intended for instruction; teaching or intending to teach a moral lesson).

A.                 It begins with an exhortation (noun: (1.) a communication intended to urge or persuade the recipients to take some action (2.) the act of exhorting; an earnest attempt at persuasion), which is carried through five stanzas to the end of verse 9.

B.                 Exhortation then gives place to calm and unimpassioned instruction, of a character resembling that which makes up the bulk of the Book of Proverbs.

C.                 This instruction continues to the end of verse 33, when there is a return to exhortation, but exhortation mingled with instruction (vs, 35, 36, 38-40).

D.                The object of the psalm is to reassure people whose minds are disturbed by the fact of the frequent prosperity of the wicked.

1.                   To convince the godly that in every case retribution will overtake the ungodly person at the last.

2.                  To impress upon the godly that the condition of the righteous, even when the suffer, is for preferable to that of the wicked, whatever prosperity they may enjoy.

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IV.              So, what would he teach us?

A.                 First, examine the opening exhortation.

¹Do not fret because of the wicked;       do not be envious of wrongdoers,²for they will soon fade like the grass,        and wither like the green herb.

B.                 To Fret is to be discontented

1.                   Martha Bolton in When the Going Gets Tough, The Tough Start Laughing, writes:^[5]

The expression you are what you eat applies to more than just that pizza with extra cheese or the super-sized candy bar. We are shaped by more than calories -- our choices are just as formative. Which is why it's so important that we not step outside a healthy diet when it comes to our inner lives. Feeling discontented with our portion of the world's blessings turns us inward on ourselves; gnawing on the bones of our unhappiness keeps us from seeing the healthy feast that is set before us.

The temptation to eat what we shouldn't eat, though, isn't anything new. As I said, even Adam and Eve faced it. And even though that forbidden fruit probably tasted delicious going down, don't forget they had to spend a lifetime working it off.

C.                 To fret is to be disillusioned, to fail to see reality.

1.                   Michael P. Andrus, in AThe parable of the rich fool,” October 27, 1996, First Evangelical Free Church Web Site, Efree.org/sermons, oberves:

Wealth can sometimes lead to terrible loneliness. Chuck Swindoll wrote a little pamphlet a number of years ago addressed to the peculiar needs of CEOs and other successful people. Its title is, “The Lonely Whine of the Top Dog” ....

If I were to ask you to describe someone who is lonely, chances are good you would not choose someone who is busy. It is also doubtful that you’d select someone in a top management position, the chief executive officer in a growing corporation or the leading, well-paid salesperson in an aggressive, competitive organization. “Not them!” we think. “They’re successful. They’ve got bucks. They’re fulfilled. They’ve got it made. Furthermore, with all those people around, they haven’t got time to be lonely!”

Don’t bet on it. More often than not, those who find themselves approaching or at the top of the steep ladder of financial success have few friends (if any), struggle to keep peace at home, and live on the ragged edge of disillusionment, even despair.

Loneliness is the plague of the loner ... and, by and large, “top dogs” are loners. Either by design or by default, most executives operate in a very private world where happiness eludes them. Contentment and inner tranquility are seldom found in the penthouse. Instead, there is boredom and stark feelings of emptiness. As Thoreau states so well, these are (often) people who “lead lives of quiet desperation.”

D.                To fret may mean to be discouraged

1.                   Present Tense, Jason Lehman (written when he was 14)^[6].

It was spring.
But it was summer I wanted,
The warm days,
nd the great outdoors.

It was summer.
But it was Fall I wanted,
The colorful leaves,
And the cool, dry air.

It was Fall.
But it was winter I wanted,
The beautiful snow,
And the joy of the holiday season.

It was winter.
But it was spring I wanted,
The warmth,
And the blossoming of nature.

I was a child.
But it was adulthood I wanted,
The freedom,
And the respect.

I was twenty.
But it was thirty I wanted,
To be mature,
And sophisticated.

I was middle-aged.
But it was twenty I wanted,
The youth,
And the free spirit.

I was retired.
But it was middle-age I wanted,
The presence of mind
Without limitations.

My life was over.
But I never got what I wanted.

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V.                 Verses 3 though 9 are words of encouragement.

³Trust in the LORD, and do good;
    so you will live in the land, and enjoy security.
⁴Take delight in the LORD,
     and he will give you the desires of your heart.

⁵Commit your way to the LORD;
     trust in him, and he will act.
⁶He will make your vindication shine like the light,
     and the justice of your cause like the noonday.

⁷Be still before the LORD, and wait patiently for him;
    do not fret over those who prosper in their way, over those who carry out evil devices.
⁸Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath.
    Do not fret it leads only to evil.

⁹For the wicked shall be cut off,
    but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.

A.                 So we need to watch out what we are looking for.

Refined Shopping^[7]

A very refined young man comes to a small food shop and sees fruit. "Give me two kilograms of oranges and wrap every orange up in a separate piece of paper, please," he says to the saleswoman. She does it.

"And three kilograms of cherries, please, and wrap up every berry in a separate piece of paper, too." She does.

"And what is it there," he asks pointing out at something dark in the corner.

"Raisins," says the saleswoman, "but they're not for sale."

B.                 We need to be reminded from whom we are going to receive the promises and their fulfillment.

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CONCLUSION:

Harry was worried about the vicious-looking dog that was barking at him and straining at the leash.

“Don’t be afraid of him,” the friend said reassuringly. “You know the old proverb, ‘barking dog never bites.’”

“Yes,” replied Harry, “You know the proverb, and I know the proverb, but does the dog know the proverb?”

1. God knows the way of both the unrighteous and the unrighteous.

A.                 God will not be moved.

B.                 We can trust him.

C.                 The Psalmist did!

Amen.

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