As always, you can read the transcript below
Psalm 119:1-8
1 Blessed are those whose ways are blameless,
who walk according to the law of the Lord.
2 Blessed are those who keep his statutes
and seek him with all their heart—
3 they do no wrong
but follow his ways.
4 You have laid down precepts
that are to be fully obeyed.
5 Oh, that my ways were steadfast
in obeying your decrees!
6 Then I would not be put to shame
when I consider all your commands.
7 I will praise you with an upright heart
as I learn your righteous laws.
8 I will obey your decrees;
do not utterly forsake me.
Matthew 5:3
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (New International
Version)
Matthew 5:3
You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you, there is more of God and His rule.” (The Message
Translation)
Psalm 119:1-8; Matthew 5:3
WE ARE BLESSED WHEN WE REALIZE HOW MUCH WE NEED GOD
Welcome to September! This is a month that we associate with back to school and all that gets learned inside and outside of the classrooms. Our prayers are with those trying to navigate several potential challenges of back to school during this pandemic.
Let me ask you something: Are you still learning?
I hope so! Certainly, we have had to learn to approach our lives differently in this current situation that we find ourselves. My prayer is that we are open to discover things that God continues to want to teach us. How will we be receptive learners of lessons that only come as we turn in faith to God as the Master Teacher?
Over the next weeks, we will examining Psalm 119 and Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5. This sermon series is entitled, “LEARNING THE WAY OF BLESSING”.
Closer examination of Jesus’ teaching reveals that blessing does not always come in the way we would expect. Are we willing and ready to learn what God has for us?
Here’s the truth: If you already think you know everything, you can’t learn anything.
A young boy, who was meant to be starting school, protested to his mother, “But Mom, I don’t need to go to school. I already know so much…”
Are we like that sometimes? Do we think that we have already figured things out when it comes to life and God and faith?
Only as we continue to be open and willing can God inspire and instruct us with deeper understanding and fresh insights.
I love the fact that we can never stop learning and needing to learn how much we need God. This is the essence of today’s message: “WE ARE BLESSED WHEN WE REALIZE HOW MUCH WE NEED GOD.”
On our holiday time we enjoyed various day trips and picnics. When travelling on unfamiliar roads, it is necessary to have a map or GPS in order to get to your destination. This would not be a good time to insist that you already know everything and have nothing to learn.
Likewise, as we travel the unfamiliar road of life unfolding, we need the guidance of our loving God.
Psalm 119:1,2 expresses the blessing that comes to those who have learned to walk God’s way: “Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the LORD. Blessed are those who keep his statutes and seek Him with all their heart.”
What we have opportunity to learn here is echoed in Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” or blessed are those who consistently realize how much they need God.
Blessing here is more than happiness because happiness is an emotion that depends on outward circumstances. Blessing does not depend on life being easy or straightforward. Blessing depends on depending on God and discovering how much we need God in all the circumstances of life. The more that we learn this, the more possibility there is to seek God with all of our hearts and to find God and His kingdom. In this, there is great blessing!
We would not tend to think that it would be a blessing to, “come to the end of our rope” as the Message translation describes it in Matthew 5:3, but Jesus maintains that our poverty of spirit, our desperate state in knowing all that is beyond us, moves us to seek God and to realize oh how much we need Him!
Psalm 119 is a reflection of the blessing that comes to those who have learned how much they need God and choose to follow His ways (vs. 3)
Psalm 119:4,5 “You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed. Oh that my ways were steadfast in obeying Your decrees.”
When it comes to obeying God’s precepts and God decrees, everyone of us can realize how much we need God. We have all learned that we are poor in spirit, that we are not as steadfast as we would long to be in obeying God.
But do not give up here because Jesus reminds us, that realizing our inadequacy and how poor in spirit we are, positions us to receive the kingdom of heaven that God has designed to be ours.
This is an ongoing process. Just as no student learns everything they need to in one day, we spend a lifetime learning and relearning how much we need God.
Psalm 119:7 indicates that the person writing this Psalm has understood that learning how much he needs God must continue: “I will praise You with an upright heart as I learn your righteous laws.”
Jesus, in the teaching of Matthew 5 is opening this door of possibility for those who are poor in spirit and not arrogant and self satisfied to receive the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus came to reveal the kingdom of heaven in Himself. What Jesus did in giving His life for us ushered in the power of the kingdom of heaven when He accomplished the purpose of His coming, through His death and resurrection.
We learn that Jesus came to do for us what we in our poverty of spirit cannot do for ourselves.
He has saved us forever and we celebrate this remarkable gift of salvation this morning in the way Jesus has given us to remember Him! We have learned the depth of Jesus’ love and we have learned that we need to be reminded of that again and again. Communion, The Lord’s Supper is a time of blessing because we review what we have learned of God’s love for us in sending His Son Jesus to die for us.
Yes, with less of us, may there be more of God and His rule and His way!!
We are poised to learn the way of blessing whenever we admit how much we need God.
Jesus, keep us near the cross as we seek the path of blessing in continuing to learn and to remember how much we need You!