Episode Transcript
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Tonight I'm going to read from Psalm
one hundred twenty three, a short psalm.
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This psalm has been called various things. A Psalm for the eyes.
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You'll see why. It's Psalm one, two three. I remember this by
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thinking of teachers who say one,
two three, eyes on me right,
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just a little helpful way to remember
what this psalm is about. It's a
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psalm one, two three, a
psalm for and for the eyes, for
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our hearts as well, a song
of a sense to you. I lift
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up my eyes, Oh you who
are enthroned in the heavens, behold.
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As the eyes of servants look to
the hand of their master, as the
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eyes of a maid servant to the
hand of her mistress, so our eyes
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look to the Lord, our God, till he has mercy upon us.
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Have mercy upon us, Oh Lord, have mercy upon us, for we
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have had more than enough of contempt. Our soul has had more than enough
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of the scorn of those who are
at ease, of the contempt of the
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proud. Psalm for the eyes,
a psalm for our hearts. It's a
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short psalm. It's remarkable for being
that. It's also remarkable for having such
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a sort of single thought. Most
Psalms can be sort of summarized in a
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way, but a lot of times
they'll kind of take you various places,
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to this image, to that image. It'll describe things in various ways,
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but here it's it's very simple,
very simple. Martin Luther has a nice
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comment about that, which I'd like
to read to you, especially in light
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of our Sunday school this morning about
prayer. The Psalms are, of course,
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prayers. Here's what Luther says.
He says this psalm is but short
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and therefore a very fit example to
show the force of prayer need not consist
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in many words, but in fervency
of spirit, for great and weighty matters
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may be compromised in a few words
if they proceed from the spirit and the
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unspeakable groanings of the heart, especially
when our necessity is such as will not
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suffer any long prayer. Every prayer, luther rights, is long enough if
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it be fervent and proceed from a
heart that understands the necessity of the saints.
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That's very true. I'm Jesus was
not very happy about people who would
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go on and on and on piling
up words. Of course can have a
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long prayer that is very holy,
God glorifying. Sometimes we need to pray
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long prayers. We have examples of
Jesus getting up early or staying up late
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to pray long prayers or many prayers, or a long period of praying,
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however you might put it. The
point isn't the length, as Luther points
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out, it's the heart, and
here we have a wonderful example of that.
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Short Psalm from the heart and in
from the spirit of God, and
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it has this very kind of singular
expression, a singular expression from the heart.
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I would put it this way that
above all and in every situation,
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the godly look up to God in
all things that we do, in every
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situation we find ourselves. That's to
whom we turned. We look to the
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Lord, and the Psalm begins that
way. To you, I lift up
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my eyes. I'm not sure who
said it, but someone said it's nice
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to have someone to look up to. That's the simple idea, but very
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true, isn't it? We feel
alone, discouraged by ourselves and weak.
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It's frustrating not to have someone to
look up to, a place for help
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and security and hope. Want to
consider the Psalm and in sort of for
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little sections. To whom we look
from verse one, how we look in
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verse two, and then in verses
three and four, for what we are
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looking and why we look so first, to whom we look? To God,
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to Yahweh to the God who created
the heavens and the earth, the
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God who told Moses to take off
his sandals as he approached that Bush that
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wasn't being consumed. God who spoken
commanded these people Israel, who told Pharaoh,
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let my people go. The God
who rescued them and brought them into
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the land of Cain in the God
who promised a Messiah to come, who
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did come and establish the Kingdom of
Heaven and promises to come a gun and
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bring it into a consummated glory.
To this God we are called to lift
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up our eyes, you who are
enthroned in the heavens. This God,
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of course, is everywhere. Psalm
one hundred and thirty nine talks about this.
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There's no place you can go and
find yourself without God. There's no
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place you can go and and and
be apart from him. And yet,
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that we might know his dignity,
that we might have a sense for his
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glory, scriptures often teaches us and
talks to us about God who dwells above,
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in the heavens or in the places, even above the heavens, and
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there's something very instinctual about this as
well. We look up. It's a
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IT'S A it's a way that we
express our hope, our desire, our
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extant are expectant, our needs.
It's a way that we look for something,
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a kind of thing to save us. It seems to be throughout all
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cultures this kind of need expressed in
this way. But why look up?
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Because we want something beyond ourselves,
something bigger than ourselves. We want God.
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This is to whom we look to
you, I lift my eyes,
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you are enthroned in the heavens.
This, I think, can be metaphoric.
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You don't have to look up in
order to look to God. It's
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ultimately a look of faith. Right. It's a it's a way that we
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look and we'll talk about that in
a minute, but I don't want to
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discourage you from actually physically raising your
eyes to look to the Lord. There
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are many examples of this and many
people who take this kind of posture.
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Our bodies communicate to ourselves, to
others, to the Lord. You know,
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if we are looking down with our
hands in our pockets and have a
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scowl on our face. It's doubtful. It's doubtful that we'll be looking to
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the Lord in hope and expectancy.
But if we submit ourselves, if we
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bow ourselves, if we put ourselves
on our knees or look up to the
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heavens and and pray to him,
it is a good thing and that is
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where our help comes from. It
comes from above. Remember also in particular
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that as we look to God,
we are not looking to sort of abstract
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power. We are looking to God
as he has revealed himself in Christ.
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What did we just read in Matthew
Eleven? Jesus says only I know the
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father, except for the ones that
I reveal him. Reveal him too.
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We Know God through Jesus Christ.
And where are we told that Jesus is
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at the right hand of the Father? It's Colossians puts it in the heavenly
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places. Jesus dwells above, and
so when we look to him we are
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looking to our God, father,
son and spirit. We could look in
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other places, and many people do. We look to our friends, our
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family, government's powers, philosophies,
influential books, pieces of art. Sometimes
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we look down. If you ever
seen a parent there's codependent on their children,
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looking for help, looking for finding, trying to find dependency and places
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that are beneath them. In a
way, we look all kinds of places,
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but there's really only one place that
we can find true help, everlasting
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help, and final rest and comfort, and that is from God. Now
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how do we look? Well,
first we look with faith. As I
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said, God is revealed himself in
Jesus Christ. Jesus is the one who
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is ascended above and we put our
faith in him as the one who came
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down to reveal God to us,
as a one whose blood was shed to
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cover our sins, as a one
who now sits at the hand of the
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Father in heaven in order to advocate
for us. Would we look to our
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mediator? We aren't looking to friends
and family long ago. We aren't looking
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to angels or other or saints,
other holy ones of the Lord. We're
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looking to Jesus, trusting and believing
in him as the one who intercedes for
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us, as the one who came
to die for us to secure our salvation.
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To use a metaphor that Jesus uses, he is the door. He
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is the way, the path in
which we come into the household of God,
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and so we look to him.
This is how we are to look
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with, with eyes of faith.
Might Remember, or called your called your
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minds. Here's thirteen, where it
talks about Abraham and those like him who
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greeted things from far away. In
particular, it talks about ever Abraham sort
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of looking forward to this heavenly city
that was to come. It's a good
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reminder that faith is something that doesn't
always see things physically. It sees things
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in the promises that are far away
and in that faith has the power to
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look farther than the natural eye,
and that's quite a spectacular thing. Sometimes
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we like to think about animal facts
in my house and we are reminded of
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the ability of some creatures to be
able to see much farther and more clearly
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than we can in their natural abilities
right. But we have a an ability
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that supersedes even the farthest that an
owl can see or an eagle, and
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that we can see by faith,
to be able to see into the heavenly
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places where Jesus Christ is seated on
his throne surrounded by millions of angels.
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That's quite a vision. It's a
vision that we don't make up, that's
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given to us by God himself.
In those very terms, by the way,
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we are able to look by faith
farther than the natural eye, and
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that is how we look. We
also in how we look. Not only
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do we look with faith, but
we look with this kind of eagerness and
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attentiveness and expectation that's given to us
very clearly here in versus, in verse
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two. That was how he describes
the look, this look of faith.
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Behold, the eyes of servants look
to the hand of their master, as
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the eyes of the maidservant looks to
the hand or to the hand of her
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mistress. So our eyes look to
the Lord, our God, till he
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has mercy upon us. Let's start
with this. Hands are very powerful signaling
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tools. They communicate a lot.
You can dismiss someone with your hand,
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you can stop someone with your hand, you can call someone over with your
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hand, you can show distress and
anguish or frustration or anger. You can
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do a lot with your hands and
in some cultures masters of households, mistresses
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of households do exactly this. I
came across of one account of a person
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describing some time, a long time
ago, but some time in Damascus,
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and they were noticing how, as
they sat there for dinner, the master
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of the House was able to signal
to his servants with just a movement of
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the hand, without any words.
They'd make a hand movement and all of
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a sudden he says, Sherbet was
brought in. A few minutes later,
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another movement and coffee and pipes appear. Makes another movement and sweetmeats, and
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I was like this. They're all
all the evening. This, these little
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movements here and there with, without
any words, are expressed and things are
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just done. The household is moving
and organized and quick. Or you think
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about Major League Baseball pitchers paying attention
to hand signals or sign language. Have
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you ever watched two people speaking in
sign language and the intensity in their eyes
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as they look to each other,
communicating lots of information all at once?
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The hands are very powerful and in
this context, in this relationship between Masters
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and mistresses and their servants, we
are given this example as a master says
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do this, do that, come
here, go away and communicates all these
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things to their servants. So we
are to look with that same kind of
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expectancy to our Lord and God,
and the same way that a servant stands
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quietly by and hangs on every movement
and wink and facial expression of their master,
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we are to hang on the face
of the Lord, to wait for
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everything that he might show us,
no matter how small, no matter how
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seemingly insignificant it might seem. The
world will say all the time, why
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is that such a big deal?
Do you really have to do this thing
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or that thing? Well, yes, it doesn't matter how small it is.
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If the Lord said it, we
jump to it. That's true not
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only of his will, but also
his promises. No matter how small and
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insignificant the promise might seem, we
jump at the opportunity to believe it,
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to rejoice in the thing that he's
given, to praise him for what he
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has done. As the eyes of
servants look to the hand of their master,
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as the eyes of a maid servant
to the hand of her mistress,
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so our eyes look to the Lord, our God, till he has mercy
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on us or shows favor to us. George Herbert, the poet, it
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said, would often add the words
my master every time he said the word
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Jesus, as a way to constantly
remind himself of his independence from other people
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and is of his loyalty to Jesus. My master scripture is full of these
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frameworks, these grids for us to
understand who we are in Christ. Psalm
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one hundred and twenty three puts this
one before us, and I want to
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ask you, do you think of
yourself in this way, as a servant
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of the Lord, watching him in
his works of creation and providence and his
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works of Salvation? Are you watching? Are you listening? Are you paying
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attention? Are you hanging on everything
that he might do or say, that
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you might respond to him? This
is how we ought to look and be
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expectant as we look on our God. Well, that takes us to number
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three. For what are we to
look? Of course, for anything,
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but the PSALMIST says, particularly for
the mercy that he has upon us,
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or this could be translated for the
favor that he he shows us, the
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blessing that he he gives us.
There is only one place in all of
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our lives and all of the world
that we will find true and everlasting blessing,
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and that's in the favor of the
Lord. The Lord does give to
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us all kinds of wonderful things in
this life. Friends and spouses. He
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gives to us of jobs, he
gives to US comfortable places to sit and
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books to read and shade over our
heads. But it all comes from him
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and it's all a part of his
mercy. When the Lord put gives rain
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or shade or work or relationships,
he never owes any of that to any
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of us. It's all of his
mercy, all of His grace that he
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gives to us. So when we
look to the Lord and look to him
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with this expectancy and faith, what
are we looking for? We're looking for
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his mercy and for his favor,
and this in itself is a real blessing.
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God often disarms us. He takes
away, I think this is a
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job John Calvin puts it. Excuse
me, he takes away, I'm paraphrasing,
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our conventional resources, the typical things
that we lean on, the typical
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weapons and things that we fight with. Perhaps you've been in situations like this,
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you felt in need of something,
and what do you do? Well,
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hopefully you lift your eyes up and
you look to the Lord, and
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there's a great blessing in this,
because when the Lord takes things away or
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teaches us their secondary order of importance, of order of importance. He's teaching
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us not to look, not to
lean and rely on lesser things. Have
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you ever had the experience of trying
to use a tool that wasn't a very
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good tool? I won't name any
names, but we all know there are
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certain stores that you go to that
you buy a tool for a one time
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use. Right, you buy it
really cheap because you just need it to
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work one time to get that bolt
off or whatever it is. You know
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it's going to break, but if
you ever try to use a tool that
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you really needed and it's just won't
work, it's frustrating. We often,
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however, use all the wrong tools
and all the wrong ways. We try
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to find everlasting peace, salvation,
security rest in the things of this world
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or, to use Old Testament,
language and princes and horses and chariots.
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We look to these kinds of things
instead of to Christ, who's risen on
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high, to our Lord and Master, who can give us everything and anything
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that we need. We look to
him because he doesn't just command us in
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things, but he protects us as
our Lord, as our master, the
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Lord God watches over us and takes
care of us. So when we look
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to him, in many ways we
are looking for him and for his favor
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and his supply. Finally, why
do we look? Well, this is
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expressed in verses three and four.
Have mercy upon us, or show favor
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to us. Oh Lord, have
mercy upon us, for we have had
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more than enough of contempt. Our
soul has had more than enough of the
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scorn of those who are at ease, of the contempt of the proud.
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This morning, from Romans twelve fourteen, we consider G Jesus Words through his
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apostle to purse or to bless those
who persecute us. The persecution that the
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saints feel today are as similar to
the persecution that the saints of old felt,
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and the psalmist describes it here with
great frustration. We've had more than
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enough of contempt. The word is
has the idea of being saturated, exceedingly
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filled up with this thing, with
contempt, with scorn. It's the sponge
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in the way, is so full
that it's just dripping all over the place.
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It can't hold any more. The
psalmist looks to the Lord and says,
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have favor on us, have mercy
upon us. We we can't handle
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anything else. We are exceedingly full, more than enough of contempt. Our
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soul has had more than enough of
scorn from those who essentially don't think they
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need to pray like this, from
those who think that they can be at
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a's. They are proud and they
look down on those who who see their
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need. This is one of many
reasons that we look to God, and
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it's an important one. Oftentimes,
we will find ourselves saturated with trouble and
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our inner resources and our outer resources
are depleted, and when we look out
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into the world, all we find
are people that are just sort of piling
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on, piling on and laughing and
mocking and deriding us in our weakness.
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They will say to us, look
at us, I'm conter, I'm happy,
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I'm satisfied, I am at rest, I am at ease. You
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need to earn some more money,
you need to build yourself a platform that
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you might expand your brand, you
need to establish yourself in the world.
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Then you'll be happy, you'll be
like me. But we must not look
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to them, we must not put
our faith on them. They're seeking our
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harm. We must look to God, who desires our good, and that
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brings us back to the beginning.
To you, I lift up my eyes
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above all, above all things,
above all things that you might look to,
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look to God in every situation.
That is where the godly look,
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especially when they find themselves weak and
frustrated and persecuted. I hope that you
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hear that word and that in Christ, you learn to look to him.
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Let's pray, let's lift our eyes
up to the Lord.
