Sunday, June 12, 2016

Real Psalms for Real People Psalm 136 RUMC 6/12/16

Real Psalms for Real People
RUMC 6/12/16
How many of you get the feeling that the Bible doesn’t understand you? It’s OK to put up your hand. Sometimes it is hard for citizens of the high-speed, high-pressure, high tech, high expectation 21st century to feel like the Bible connects to them.
I’ll admit, it is sometimes hard for me to feel a connection to some of the stories. However, that’s not too surprising. Parts of the Bible are 36 centuries old! That’s older than most of us here, and face it, times have changed.
I would argue, however, people have not changed all that much.
•           We still ask the same questions that they did 36 centuries ago:
o          Why am I here?
o          Why do bad things happen?
o          Why is there sickness and suffering?
o          How am I supposed to respond when folks treat me like dirt?
•           We still have the same hurts they did 36 centuries ago:
o          guilt,
o          shame,
o          grief, and
o          failure.
•           We still have the same struggles they did 36 centuries ago:
o          making a family,
o          finding hope,
o          experiencing peace.
You might say, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

That is exactly why I love to read the Psalms. Those of you who follow my “read with me” in the newsletter and enews know that I read one psalm every day. The reason I do that is, if not every day, almost every day I find myself wondering,
•           “How did you know I was asking myself that question?” or
•           “How did you know my heart was broken like that?” or
•           “How did you know I was struggling in that way?” or
•           “How did you know I was feeling that way?”
My experience is that the Psalms are the deepest gut-prayers of people just like me, revealing the depths of not only their hearts, but also mine.

That’s why I am preaching from the Psalms this summer and calling this series, “Real Help For Real People.”
•           Let me ask you, what is the one thing babies need most? You might think diapers and milk, but even babies, who receive those things in orphanages, if they don’t receive love and loving contact from caregivers, will turn their faces to the wall and die.
•           What is the one thing Children need to hear more often than anything else? I would argue that it is not the word “NO,” but the words “I love you”… or sometimes, “I love you anyway.”
•           What is it that teenagers and young adults are seeking in their lives as they begin to separate from their parents? Someone to love them.
•           What do we need most as our physical abilities begin to decline? To know that there is someone who loves us enough to care for us.
•           What is the most important thing a person needs to know as they die, that after everything else…they are loved.
 One of the most fundamental needs we have is to be loved. But face it, oftentimes human beings fail us. Oftentimes we fail each other. And when everyone around us seems to be against us… When we feel most alone and most vulnerable…When we feel most worthless… what is left?
 Let me tell you. “HIS STEADFAST LOVE ENDURES FOREVER.” In other words, whether anyone else loves you or not…whether anyone else cares or not… God loves you. And, as Bishop Trimble was fond of saying this last weekend, “there isn’t anything you can do about that.” God loves you and there isn’t anything you can do about that.
If you miss that point in Psalm 136, it can only be because you weren’t listening at all. “His steadfast love endures forever” is repeated 26 times! Over and over, it drives home the point, “His steadfast love endures forever.”

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How do we know that God loves us? The Psalm is divided into three parts.
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 The first part, verses 1-3, teaches us that ever-enduring steadfast love is a fundamental characteristic of God. It names God as GOOD, he is the LORD OF LORDS, and he is the GOD OF GODS:   THEREFORE, “His steadfast love endures forever.” God loves because that is what God is. 1 John 4:8 tells us “God is love.” If the essence of God is love… then God can do nothing else. So we know God loves us because that who God is.
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The second part is verses 4-25. They are saying, “If you aren’t convinced God loves you because of who God is, look around and you to see what God has done. In order to understand what it is saying it helps to take out the refrain, and just read the stuff between “His steadfast love endures forever.”
         Verses 4-9 say Look at creation and you will see. “God does great wonders. God made the heavens.
God spread out the earth on the waters. God made the great lights: the sun to rule over the day, the moon and stars to rule over the night.” How can you look at creation and not believe that is was created by an infinitely loving God? Any God who makes the sunrise, the bald eagle, and white sand beaches must certainly love us very much.  THEREFORE: what more evidence do we need? We can say for sure, “God’s steadfast love endures forever."
         If that isn’t enough, look at the way God treats his people in verses 10-24 and you can’t help but see God’s love. Take out the repeated verse and read it.
God struck Egypt through their firstborn, and brought Israel out from among them,
with a strong hand and an outstretched arm.
God divided the Red Sea in two, and made Israel pass through the midst of it, but overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea.
God led his people through the wilderness.
God struck down great kings, and killed famous kings, Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan, and gave their land as a heritage, a heritage to his servant Israel.
It is he who remembered us in our low estate, and rescued us from our foes.
 THEREFORE: What more evidence do we need? Any God who would do all of that and more for his people proves once and for all that, “God’s steadfast love endures forever."
         Then, the Psalm tells us, look at the way God provides for all of God’s creatures. There is no other explanation than,  “His steadfast love endures forever.”
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 Finally the last verse of the Psalm calls us back to the beginning of the Psalm and calls us to give thanks because the God of heaven, Because God is a God whose steadfast love endures forever.

 I have to admit, it is hard for me to believe. God’s love… God steadfast love… God’s enduring, steadfast love is beyond my comprehension.
God’s love for me is unchangeable. God’s love for you is unchangeable.
God’s love for me cannot be stopped. God’s love for you cannot be stopped.

God’s love for me is forever. God’s love for you is forever.
Pause for a moment. Let that blow your mind.
We can’t out run God’s steadfast love.
We can’t out sin God’s steadfast love and mercy.
We can’t escape God’s faithfulness.
 A great contemporary song says it this way.
         God’s love never fails,
         it never gives up
         It never runs out on me
Say it after me
         God’s love never fails, God’s love never fails,
         it never gives up, it never gives up
         It never runs out on me, It never runs out on me
And say it one more time all together
         God’s love never fails,
         it never gives up
         It never runs out on me

         God’s love never fails … NEVER
         God’s love never gives up… NEVER
         God’s love never runs out on me… NEVER
•           Start song fade volume up as I finish speaking
That is the message of Psalm 136. It reminds real people with real problems and real doubts that “God loves them no matter what!”
         God’s love never fails,
         it never gives up

         It never runs out on me

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