It is clearly the most important topic that a human mind could ever consider. It is the thing that defines everything in your life. It is a thing that is mistakenly connected to religion, but is vastly bigger than that. It is a thing that separates you from the rest of creation. It is the topic of topics. It is worship. Tonight we want to consider an amazing psalm of worship. Nine little verses, but very comprehensive in its scope. Turn your Bibles once again or there in the bulletin to Psalm 122 and let me read one more time these brief but significant words.
I Was Glad When They Said to Me
"I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD!" Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem! Jerusalem-- built as a city that is bound firmly together, to which the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD. There thrones for judgment were set, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! "May they be secure who love you! Peace be within your walls and security within your towers!"
For my brothers and companions' sake I will say, "Peace be within you!" For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your good." A couple of things I want to say about this psalm just to place it in its proper context with you. This is a song of ascent. This was a song to be sung as the Israelites would walk their way up to times of worship and sacrifice in Jerusalem. This Psalm is full of Jerusalem language. It is full of Jerusalem language because Jerusalem was the center of the worship of God.
It was where the tabernacle was. It was where sacrifices were made. It was where the holy of holies was, where the presence of God dwelt. And so you can't have in the Old Testament a psalm of worship without it being a psalm of Jerusalem. But this is a psalm that has so much to say to us about the nature of true worship. "I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD!" Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem!" First perspective on worship from Psalm 122, worship, true worship is an expression of heart felt joy.
"I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the Lord." David gives voice to the Israelites who would be excited at the beginning of a pilgrimage up to worship God. Imagine the excitement a child has when the day to leave on vacation actually comes. They can barely eat their breakfast. They can barely think about anything else. They get in the car and 3.2 seconds later say, "Are we there yet?" They are just brimming with excitement. Brothers and sisters, that is what should happen to us when we think about the worship of God.
Imagine the Israelite farmer who gathers his family and says, "We are going to the house of God. We are going to the house of God. We are going to the house of God." And imagine him standing now in Jerusalem and saying to his family and saying to himself, "I can't believe it. We are in Jerusalem. We are Israelites. We are the children of God. This is where God dwells. I can't believe that we are in Jerusalem." You see, the joy of worship is the recognition of one thing and one thing alone, grace, grace.
The shocking reality that people like you and me, people like hard hearted Israelites who so often got it wrong, that by that majesty of the grace of God we would for a moment be accepted in God's presence, that is grace so powerful and wonderful and awesome, 15 million years into eternity you will still be seeking to understand it. And for you and I to stand in the middle of our Christian experience and to say, "I can't believe it. I can't believe it. I can't believe it. I am a child of God." And, yes, you do live in a fallen world.
Yes, your day won't work the way you want it to work. Yes, you will have flawed and broken relationships. Yes, your dreams will be dashed. Yes, your body will hurt. Yes, you will get old. But you can stand in the middle of all those experiences brimming with joy and say, "I am redeemed. I am redeemed. I am redeemed. How could it be? How could it be? How could it be? Praise you. Praise you." That is worship. Brothers and sisters, when you get that you do not worship one hour a week. You wake up in the morning.
But I Am Redeemed
You are facing a tough day and you say, "But I am redeemed." Your boss yells you in ways that you don't think you deserve and you walk down the hallway and say, "But I am redeemed." Your car is broken into and you don't like that very much, but you say, "I am redeemed." Somebody takes the Philly Car Share that you were planning on using and you say, "But I am redeemed." There is some kind of brimming joy - hear this - that alters everything you face. We should not be quasi cynical people slogging our way from difficulty to difficulty gutting it out because something has happened to us that has changed our identity and in changing our identity should radically change the conditions of our hearts.
And even in the saddest moments there should be strains of deep abiding joy because you can say with David, "I am in the gates of Jerusalem. How could that be?" Now, I would ask you. Do you know that joy? Because there are other joys that compete for your heart. Maybe you actually have to say, "Paul, I don't respond that way. I often find greater joy in the temporary joys in the pleasures of the created world than I find in the fact that I have been accepted by Christ inside the gates of Jerusalem."
And there are times I would rather have a boss that likes me or kids that are quasi self parenting or a week that works according to my plan. I would rather have those joys than the joy of redemption. Oh, Lord, please forgive us. You can't look at these first two verses without asking the question, brothers and sisters. Let's be honest this evening. What joy rules your heart? What joy do you live in pursuit of? What thing brings you the deepest joys that you experience? Is it the joy of worship that is propelled by the joy of knowing the grace that you have been afforded?
What a tragedy when we grow used to that grace. What a tragedy when it no longer has value to us. What a tragedy when we begin to think that we actually deserve acceptance with God. And how important it is to remember that I will never have any other standing with God, but the standing I am given by means of his grace. But there is another perspective that I think is also powerfully important. Let me read for you verses three through five. "Jerusalem--built as a city that is bound firmly together, to which the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD.
There thrones for judgment were set, the thrones of the house of David." Again, Jerusalem language so the celebration of the security of the city, the place where the king would be, the place where, by God's appointment, he would exercise judgment. But here what these verses are saying to us. Listen to these words - "...to which the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, as was decreed for Israel." Worship is not just an expression of heartfelt joy. True worship is a recognition of duty. Listen, brother and sisters, it was important that the Israelite would recognize that they had been redeemed from slavery by the Lord, that their lives were no longer their own, that there was an obligation to offer to God the worship that was due his name.
This was his decree. Remember soon after that redemption from Egypt Israel said at the base of Mount Sinai where God gave his law, and the foundation of that law was a call to love and worship God above all else. Now hear this. That law was not something new. That law is rooted in the norms of creation. Human beings were created to worship God. And that means that worship is first your identity before it is ever an activity. You are, by your very nature a worshipper. And if you are not worshipping God you are giving worship to something else.
And there are only two categories. Either your life is structured by a worship and service of the Creator or your life is structured in practical rubber meets the road ways by the worship and service of the creation. Somehow, some way you are attaching the meaning and purpose and identity and security of your heart to something. Something in life owns the allegiance of your heart. And I want to say something tonight that may get your attention. The deepest acts of human rebellion are not acts of thievery or adultery or murder.
The Deepest Act of Rebellion
The deepest act of rebellion that any human being has ever done is failure to worship God. And failure to worship God is what leads to all those other things. This worship of God is meant to be the thing that shapes and directs everything I do in life. I look at my identity and I say, "I belong to God. My mentality belongs to God. My emotions belong to God. My physical strength belongs to God. My mouth belongs to God. The members of my body belongs to God. My family belongs to God. My money belongs to God.
My house belongs to God. My possessions belong to God. Everything I am. Everything I have. All of my strength, all of my life belongs to God. I belong to God." That is worship. And I don't view anything in my life as belonging to me. It all belongs to this one who gave me life and breath. I was given life and breath to live unto his glory. And all the physical glories of the created world that I would replace him with are meant to be fingers that point me to the one glory that is truly glorious, his glory.
Listen. We must live with that sense of duty. It is his decree, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, your mind, your soul, your strength." It is his decree, "You shall have no other gods before me." Eugene Peterson has this wonderful quote in his book Subversive Spirituality. He says this: "John Calvin saw the human heart as a relentlessly efficient factory for producing idols." What a statement...relentlessly efficient for producing idols. "People want things to work better. They want a life that is more interesting.
They want help through difficult times. They want meaning and significance in their ventures. They want God in a way, but certainly not a jealous God, not the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." "[Oh, this is so convicting.] Mostly, they want their own way. They want to stay in control, but have ancillary divine assistance for the hard parts." What a statement. You see, is that what you want? Do you want your week to work as it is planned? Do you want comfort, ease, pleasure, acceptance? You are driven by pursuit of all those things.
Somehow the worship of God gets pushed to the outside of your life because it doesn't really drive your heart. It doesn't really shape your words. Your words are shaped in pursuit of an endless catalog of God replacements. And you run to God in moment when things appear tougher than you will be able to handle. Brothers and sisters, that is not worship. That is idolatry in a tuxedo. Is your life an expression of your identity as a worshipper and your call to worship God above all else? But a third point, verse six.
"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! "May they be secure who love you! Peace be within your walls and security within your towers!" True worship is an expression of heart felt joy. True worship is a recognition of duty. True worship results in concern. Notice the concern here. "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! "May they be secure who love you! Peace be within your walls and security within your towers!" That word "peace" there means more than an absence of conflict or an absence of war. It means a state of wholeness where everything works the way it was supposed to work.
That word "peace" could actually be defined as things the way they were created to be. You see, if my heart is filled with love for God, my heart is controlled by the worship of God, then I care about the work of God. I care about the people of God. I care about the kingdom of God. And so I would care about Jerusalem. I would care about its peace. I would care about its security because that is where God dwells. That is where he does his work. And how do you translate this to us? I would ask you this evening, has worship of God placed inside of your heart a deep concern for the Church of Jesus Christ?
Do You Care for Your Church?
Do you care for your church? Do you care for its work? Are you concerned for its mission? Do you love and pray for its pastors and its elders and its deacons? Do you do everything you can to invest your time and your energy and your money so that God's work would thrive? I think that we live in a generation where very often the body of Christ can be shockingly passive. We live in a generation where there is a whole lot of consumeristic Christianity. I like to think of it as ecclesiastical Macy's.
You know, when you go to Macy's you go as a consumer. I am looking for a shirt. I don't have a fundamental commitment to Macy's. I don't feel part of what Macy's is and Macy's does. I am a consumer. And if Macy's doesn't have the shirt I am looking for, I feel no ethical or moral problem whatsoever leaving Macy's walking across the mall to Bloomingdales. We have people responding to the church as consumers. I like this preacher a little bit better than this preacher. I like this kind of music a little bit better than this kind of music.
This church has a better children's program and this one has a better youth program. And sometimes the family goes to seven different churches just to get the buffet. It is sort of Christian comparative shopping. Now someone said that we are no longer fishers of men, maybe we are just keepers of the aquarium. You had better have the best stuff in your aquarium because fish may swim to the side of this aquarium and see another aquarium that seems better and hop over. You see, consumeristic Christianity is driven by worship of me.
It is about what I want. It is about what pleases me. It is about what I think I need at whatever moment rather than a sense of calling not just to God, but to the people of God and to the work of God. If you are God's child, you have been drafted into service of his kingdom. And that means that I would make crucial life choices to position myself for work in and ministry in the Church of Jesus Christ. That means I may move into a neighborhood I am not excited about living in because I want to be part of the work of God.
That may mean I will say no to a promotion because I am webbed into ministry relationships and I want to be part of the work of God. That may mean that I will live in a smaller house. I could work more, but I don't want to do that because I am committed to the purposes of the kingdom of God. That means giving of my time and energy and money because I love the work of God because I love the God of that work. Worship always results in a concern for the Church of Jesus Christ and for the work of God's kingdom.
And then one final thing, look with me at verses eight and nine. "For my brothers and companions' sake I will say, "Peace be within you!" For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your good." True worship is an expression of heartfelt joy. True worship is a recognition of duty. True worship always result in concern for God's kingdom and God's work. True worship will always result in community. Look where this ends. "For my brothers and companions' sake I will say, 'Peace be within you!'"
Love of God will always produce love for others. My problem in my struggle to love others is not first a problem to love others. My problem is actually a lack of love for God. And when I don't have God in his rightful place, then people are not in their rightful place as well. Think about this. What is the idol of idols? The idol of idols, the thing that we consistently replace worship of God with -- this won't be a surprise to you--is worship of self. And when I am worshipping me, that puts tremendous stress on my relationship to you because in my worship with, of me, I don't actually move towards you because I love you, I move toward you because I love me.
When God Is in His Right Place
And I think that, perhaps, you have something that will benefit me. And when you don't, I am gone because I am really into the relationship not for you, but for me. It is only when God is in his rightful place, when my heart is ruled by worship of him, when it is filled with that sense of joy, when it lives with that deep sense of duty that I will actually care about you, care about your wellbeing, care about your family, care about your walk with God. I will care about you. I am persuaded, brothers and sisters, that much of what we call fellowship just isn't.
It is the same kind of thing that, you know, takes place at the pub. Maybe we should just call it pub-owship. We are going to get together for some pub-owship. It won't really rise to the level of fellowship because it is a lot easier to live in terminal, casual relationships that keep me from accountability for what God is doing in your life. Do you love God's people? Do you? Do you care about the welfare? Do you care about the relationship with Christ? Do you look for ways to be an encouragement, a help, a burden bearer, a friend in the truest sense of what that means?
Is your life open, giving, serving, loving, kind, gentle, patient, forgiving, forbearing? You see, perhaps the lack of that in our lives reveals the true condition of the worship of our hearts. True worship is an expression of heart felt joy. True worship is a recognition of duty. True worship result in concern for the work of God and the kingdom of God. True worship will always result in loving, serving, patient, perseverant, giving community. Now, I would ask you this evening because I am your pastor and I should ask these questions.
Have I described your life this evening? Have I described your heart? Is that joy your joy? Is that duty a thing that shapes everything you say and everything you do? Is that concern for God's work something that shapes the decisions you make in your life? Are you a vibrant part of that giving, serving, loving community? God help us to examine our hearts this evening. But I want to say one more thing about this passage. This psalm is like a finger that points us to three things. First of all, it points us to the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is no more tabernacle where sacrifices are made because God sent his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ as the ultimate and final sacrifice. The King became the Lamb. And he was willing to pay the penalty necessary for our sins so that through his sacrifice we would receive forgiveness and acceptance with God. I would ask you this evening. Have you placed your trust in that Lamb? Have you sought his forgiveness? Have you pursued his grace? There is a second thing this wonderful psalm point to. It is this, that we don't have to march up a hill to Jerusalem anymore because by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ we are now the temple where God dwells.
Think about this. We are the temple of God. And so wherever God's people are, God lives in the middle of them. But there is one final thing that this psalm points a finger to. It is this, that everyone here is a pilgrim. We are marching up the hill to the new Jerusalem where God dwells and we will live with him forever and all the struggle of sin and weakness will be forever gone and we will live in the secure gates of Jerusalem forever and we will say forever, "I am redeemed. I am redeemed. I am redeemed.
I am in the gates of the new Jerusalem. I am redeemed." Let's pray. Thank you, Lord, for this beautiful little psalm, for its clarity, for its majesty, for its practicality. May, by your grace, we be true worshippers of you and you alone in Jesus' name. Amen.
