Now I pray for Pastor Kevin that he would bring your word with power, with humility, that it would be clear to us and that we might be changed as a result of having heard your word. Your name we pray, amen. Well Church, we are going to be continuing our sermon series in the book of Psalms. So if you have your Bible electronic device, would love you to turn to Psalm chapter 122. And it's going to be on the screen behind me as well. There's nine verses, so we're going to read all nine verses here. Psalms is right in the middle of the Bible, so just flip open in the middle and you'll find your way there. Psalm 122, it's a song of a sense and it's of King David. Verse 1, I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord. Our feet have been standing within your gate, so 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. Amen. Pastor Kevin's going to come deliver this message this morning, and at this time any kindergarten through fifth graders who would like to join our children's director, Joanna in the back for a special time with children's worship. You can do so, and parents, just a heads up. June the second and two weeks from now, we will have graduation or move up Sunday. So all fifth graders that will be going into sixth grade will be invited to join their families here in worship. Thank you. Pastor true. Would you pray with me as we go into God's word together? Our Father, we come before you today and we thank you as we so often do on Sunday here at Willow Creek that you did not leave us in darkness, but instead have shown the light of your Son Jesus and have illuminated the meaning of your word that we might understand it and see Him more clearly. Father, we pray this morning that you would do that same gracious work of your spirit, that you would empower your people to know the truth, that sets them free, that you would help them walk in pathways of truth, that lead to flourishing, and Lord, we pray for those who have yet to call upon your name, that they might be stirred by that same spirit to believe the truth of the gospel, to know the joy of salvation and the fellowship that is ours through your Son Jesus Christ. For His glory, and we know that means the good of your people, we pray in Jesus name, amen. This morning I want to talk to you about living in the presence of God and specifically tell you that in the presence of God there is peace. This is one of the themes of the Psalms of Ascent, and if you've been with us these past few weeks, you know that the Psalms of Ascent No. 15, they are found within the broader book of Psalms beginning in Psalm 120, four of these Psalms are attributed to King David, that great king of ancient Israel, who enlarged Israel's borders, united Israel's tribes, and moved the seat of Israelite worship to the city of Jerusalem by first commanding that the arc of the covenant be brought to Jerusalem, and then it was revealed to David that his son Solomon would preside over the construction of a perfect temple within the city walls of Jerusalem, where God would dwell in a unique and powerful way, his presence bringing peace and prosperity to his people. The Psalms of Ascent No. 15, four attributed to David, one to his son Solomon, and ten others anonymous. We don't know the authors, but entirely okay with that because we don't need to know them. We ultimately need to know the one to whom they point, and all of them together with all the other Psalms, and all the other words of Scripture, point us ultimately to Jesus Christ. This morning, I want to walk briskly through this Psalm. I want to show you three principal ways God invites us to live in view of it, and then send you out in the power of God's Spirit by his grace, to live in fuller awareness of God's great love for you. So this morning, the first thing I want to show you is that the Psalmist David describes a worshiper going to the city of Jerusalem to worship with a holy passion. If you've been with us the past few weeks, or if you're a student of the Scriptures, you may know that there is a certain flow, Psalm to Psalm, beginning in these Psalms of a sense, with Psalm 120. In Psalm 120, we were told of a pilgrim to the city of Jerusalem, who longed to be in the fellowship of God's people, but was despite his longing very far from God's people. He mentions two places in particular, a town named Meschic, as well as the Tents of Cedar. However, we might pronounce that. However, we might locate it. We don't know exactly where those two places were. But that's entirely OK. What we do know is that they were nowhere near Jerusalem. The next Psalm, in the Psalms of Ascent, Psalm 121, describes a pilgrim who is traveling from those far outside places toward the city of Jerusalem, the elevated city, hence, Psalms of Ascent moving his way toward Jerusalem through perilous travels on mountains and ancient roadways. You remember last week he looked to the hills and said, from where does my help come? Help perhaps from bandits, wild beasts, other things that might harass him on his journey, his answer, of course, my help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth, the one who's with me, no matter how far I travel. Well, this morning Psalm, Psalm 122, the next in the sequence, describes the psalmist arriving in the city of Jerusalem and standing within its gates. Listen to verse 1 and 2. I'm as glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord. He has a holy passion to be within the presence of God and God's people, to be in that place of ancient Jewish worship, the city of Jerusalem, and then goes on to say in verse 2, our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem. Now, I don't know how many of you have ever traveled to New York City. I asked our chapel service at 9 a.m., would you please just raise your hand if you've ever been to New York City? Good, a great representation. Had the same thing in the chapel service and it's always nice when you're a preacher and you're going to use an illustration to make sure that everybody has some reference understanding points to New York City. I remember the first time I went to New York City and many of you know because I talk about it to the point of being completely annoying, I was actually born and raised in the second great city of the state of New York. Buffalo, and if you know the difference between the first city, New York City and the Queen City, Buffalo, the really good city, if you know the difference, you know the difference is vast. Buffalo is not a huge city compared to a global metropolis like New York City. New York City is in many ways the capital of the world. New York City is huge. I remember traveling there with one of my sons. We were flying into New York City and we were looking out the window at the New York City skyline and even in a plane that's traveling hundreds of miles an hour, the city just kept going on and on and on. It is huge. Then we did a hard bank to the left and came into the airport and we sensed upon arrival just the energy and bustling of the city. Now I want you to go back in time several thousand years and imagine that you're a Jewish person living in the far flung reaches of antiquity far outside and you're traveling to Jerusalem over mountainous perilous terrain, many miles of your journey and finally you're moving toward an elevated and fortified city over which reigns the most powerful king of ancient Israel. Could you imagine the flood of pride and passion that would fill your heart as you neared it knowing that Jerusalem the elevated city is the capital of God's work and your people on earth. What an amalgam of pride and passion would fill your heart in the psalmist seeks to convey some of that in verse one. I was glad when they said to me let us go to the house of the Lord. Now why would the psalmist be glad? Well because in God's presence there is blessing and in God's presence there is peace. Jerusalem was in many ways where heaven and earth kissed. Do you remember when Jesus taught his disciples to pray? He prayed that the Lord's will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. That heaven and earth someday will be one that the kingdom of God would so come into the world that it would fill the earth in every way both its breadth as well as its depth. In that Jerusalem you have something of a beach head of the kingdom of God in the world. It's in Jerusalem that the king of the Jews reigns. It's in Jerusalem that the justice of God should be meted out. It's in Jerusalem that God's people in a unique and very personal localized way knew the ministry of God their father in heaven. It was in Jerusalem that the priests, thousands of them would minister the sacrificial system and the Jews would know that their sins were forgiven by trusting in the blood of another. The blood of animals that would point forward to the coming blood of Christ the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. It's no wonder the psalmist had a holy passion. He has a holy passion because he understands Jerusalem's holy purpose. And so with these reasons in mind the psalmist continues to describe the holy purposes that God had for such a great city. Verse 3 Jerusalem built is 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. Their thrones for judgment were set. The thrones of the house of David. I want you to notice how the psalmist is inspired by God's Holy Spirit because these aren't merely human words. These are divine words spoken through human messengers David a prophet and a king speaking the word of God. He says in verse 3 Jerusalem was built as a city that is bound firmly together to the ancient Jews approaching the city and seeing a city growing in fortifications under capable leadership growing in worship as the ark of the covenant moves inside the community and eventually a temple being built a city on the rise. The psalmist sees security and strength but it wasn't just physical security and strength that the psalmist saw. The psalmist sensed a completely listen carefully integrated society and life where everything is related and complementary to one another. Now today we live as Christians, right? We live as families where God is our God and we are his people and at home I hope if you are a parent you're encouraging your children in those truths. Children if you are the ones that know those truths and your parents don't yet know them I hope that you're shining the light that God has shown into your life and reflecting that for your parents that they might know the truth but we exist as families, right? We also exist as families within communities that compose a culture a nation state. We are so blessed here in America. We are so blessed to be able to gather. You know so many of our brothers and sisters write this very moment around the world don't have anything close to the opportunity we are enjoying this moment this hour to assemble without fear of reprisal, without fear of persecution. Our brothers and sisters in other places don't yet have that blessing. One day they will because there's coming a king who will place every other earthly king under his subjection and rule but until that time we enjoy a special privilege not only to be members of families right but to be members of the church within a nation family church and state for us as 21st century Americans are unique and separate spheres that we hope would be complimentary but the psalmist is describing a nation in which all three spheres are together what should have been and what one day will be perfect harmony. You see Israel ancient Israel is a foreshadowing of the fullness of the kingdom of God where all of God's people, God our father we share in a family over which reigns our older brother as our king we are a nation and we are the ecclesia the called out ones the church of God family church and state together is one that is what Jerusalem was a foreshadowing of that coming integrated complimentary fulfilled society and there's many reasons for the psalmist to go with great joy into the presence of God he goes into the presence of God knowing that there are great purposes accomplished there that mercy and justice are reconciled in that city that the mercy of God is shown forth in its worship and its justice meted out by a king who's established his throne and rules with justice but there's the third thing here we begin to see in verse six and that is that there's a holy people called to dwell in that city people with a holy passion understanding their holy purpose and living out life as a holy people verse six pray for the peace of Jerusalem the psalmist declares 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 you know Jerusalem means literally city of peace when you say the word Jerusalem you might hear something that comes very close to the Hebrew word Shalom meaning peace it's very very appropriate that's from which we get the name of this city and the psalmist passion for the purposes of God leads him to pray for and seek the good listen of the people of God the psalmist is showing us that love for God means love for what God loves I shared with the early service and maybe I've shared with some of you before forgive me if I have but one day when I was a young father I went out to mow the grass and I fired up my lawn mower and I went out and started mowing the grass and little did I know that one of my sons was following behind me with a tiny toy lawn mower and as I was mowing the deep grass and cutting a swath into the into the yard and manicuring it better my my son was following me behind with a little lawn mower pushing it and thankfully my wife caught a picture of this scene it's one of my most treasured possessions in this life it's a beautiful picture of a son following his father and in some way growing to bear the family resemblance this is what the psalmist has in mind here is that God has invited us into a communion that changes how we relate with him and consequently how we relate with one another as the psalmist comes into the city he's not only rejoicing that he knows the ministry of God but he's invested in the ministry he has to his other city dwellers those who are part of this great community of faith he wishes them peace and notice the peace he wishes them is a twofold peace at the very least one is he says peace be within your walls and security within your towers in other words a prayer for peace externally from external threats but notice he's very careful to also say peace be within you there is no peace outside in the world until there is peace within us whatever is outside is a reflection of what is inside and the psalmist prays for a peace within a peace that we know comes only from restored fellowship with God as God subdues our hearts and changes them from rebellious hearts into repentant ones ones that love the Lord more and more with all of our heart soul mind and strength the psalmist is seeking the good of the city of God because he loves the God who loves that city now there's three implications to this psalm at least there's probably many more but let me share with you just three implications for what this could mean for us practically as we come to enjoy the freedom and the flourishing that God has for us as this people the first one I want you to see is that true worship is more about delight than duty true worship is more about delight than duty and I want to share with you just a simple truth in that that there was a time in my life where going to church was not something that stirred my heart to be quite honest it was something that I first did out of a sense of obligation and then during my college years something over which I grew somewhat ambivalent I joked with the early service I promised not to joke at the second service because it didn't go over as a great joke in the first service I'm going to share with you anyway because I'm free in Christ and even if you don't approve of me I'm still okay with him so I'll live off that but when I was in college we used to joke that I was a member of bedside Baptist and my pastor was Reverend Sheets but Bunch thank you those of you who laughed to know that I love you deeper and more meaningfully than than all you others I just joking but here's the thing in college it didn't really become for me a source of joy to go to church and these things don't happen immediately but over time one of the things I've gone from in my own life is most of the time the overwhelming majority of the time I don't say in my heart I have to go to church what's become more and more true is the saying I get to go to church it is a joy to come into the presence of God and it's a joy to come into the presence of God anywhere and God is everywhere and we are his temple wherever we go but there is a special way in which God is present and ministers among his people yes at church by his appointment God has established leaders for his church who minister his manifold graces in what we call ordinary ways the proclamation of his word the preaching and teaching of his word the administration of the sacraments these things remind us of who God is and who we are in view of him and encouraged by these truths we live in new and freer ways I've learned to see the value of that over time that worship listen is the privilege and eventually the passion of God's people you know there's coming a day when sin will so recede within the human heart that our greatest joy will be to gather around the throne of God in worship and to sing his praises that will be for us our greatest joy in our most fulfilling duty but it won't be mere duty it will be duty done with great delight now you moms hear this morning and you dads especially those of you with young children or maybe children they're a little older but are acting a little younger it's not always easy to get to church on Sunday sometimes there's a lot of fighting if we're honest on the way to church there have been times that Molly and I have pulled into the parking lot of this church and thought I need to repent before I walk in there I can't believe that I'm going to be preaching in just moments after how I blew my stack in the minivan on the way over to church we have a sign near the door of our house as we're walking out and it aims toward you as you're walking out the house and going out into the world you know what the sign says it says remember as far as anyone knows we are a normal family that's that is the benediction at the labby house before you go out into the world don't screw it up the truth is it's hard sometimes to come to church and today there's not a whole lot of pressure that we're going to feel socially or otherwise to make worship a priority in fact the culture runs completely against that in fact listen carefully the culture sometimes even in the church runs against that it says that these things are secondary and not primary that the true worship that's faithful should be fun entertaining even convenient but I want to invite you to see that this psalmist did not worship in a way that was convenient this psalmist and these psalms of ascent point us to worshipers that are willing to travel great distances under great hardship even the potential loss of life for the great privilege empowered by great passion to worship with God's people in his presence will we still worship when all of the gimmicks entertainment and fads of today the fun goes away will we still worship if persecution were to come to a land even like ours the psalmist shows us what happens when God so captivates a human heart that they long it is their joy to be found in the presence of God and to be worshiping him the second thing I want you to see is that true worship not only celebrates mercy it promotes justice and as Americans we hear the word justice and we think immediately of of law and order or judge Judy dispensing justice every afternoon we think of punitive justice but you know the Bible uses a couple of words to describe righteousness and justice in the Old Testament one of them is Sadeca and it means a life of right relationships it means relationships characterized by righteousness characterized by holiness characterized by love and mutual concern because we know love is the fulfillment of the law Sadeca means life lived rightly before God and before others for his glory which we often say means the good of others it means taking care of our neighbor and desiring their good praying for them and working for their good is the psalmist declares here the second word is mishpoth and it means an equitable dispensation of justice that the widow the orphan the most vulnerable members of society can expect equal treatment in the courts that there won't be favoritism it also means rectifying if necessary injustice it could involve punishment or restitution and so some have said in their right and saying yet that if Sadeca is present if we are living for the glory of God and the good of others then mishpoth is unnecessary because things are being done rightly and so true worship not only celebrates God's mercy that he met the demands of mishpoth in our place for us and set us right before God offering us Sadeca it's that he desires we to not only receive these blessings but to reflect these blessings to others that we would offer them to others and so true worship is something that we leave changed not only personally and individually you know today there's such a great emphasis in in preaching and in teaching to speak in ways that are personally fulfilling or personally relieving and these things are true they're accurate and they should be preached but the truth is the gospel not only relieves us personally it sets us free to help others enjoy what we've received if we would love God we would love what God loves and so true worship in that sense is prophetic it calls us to a new way of life not only enjoying something personally but helping others to enjoy it and that brings us to a final implication as we close that true worship draws us into fellowship with one another you know too often I'm going to sound like a crank and a curmudgeon when I say this but hopefully I won't leave you feeling guilty I came to preach the gospel that relieves your burdens not multiplying them so don't let me leave you here but let me tell you as a Christian living in 21st century America you need to be unguarded that worship today oftentimes puts the worshipper at the center it it says that that church is not worthwhile or worth doing if it's not fun and entertaining and convenient some go so far as to say that worship as God desires his people to participate in can be done individually and isolated and there is some measure of provision for those who can't come together that's one of the things I love about our live stream here at Willow Creek is we have some members that can't come to church because they're sick or they're traveling and they join us online I love that but some today go to excess and say that you don't need to be part of a fellowship of the church you don't need to to connect personally you don't need to be known but God desires his people to be known and God desires unless providentially hindered
unless engaged in some work of merciful necessity it's our father's desire that his kids would come together that they would come home so to speak to him even as we feel the joy of coming together and worship we have no ability to comprehend the joy our father feels to know that his kids are coming in and that they as they're growing in awareness of his love for them and their love for him they're growing in love for one another that's one of my great joys as a dad I don't know about you if you're a parent or an aunt uncle a grandparent when you hear your kids giggling together not fighting but giggling and having fun together and loving one another and coming to each other's aid there's just so few things that bring you that much joy and I think that's hardwired into our hearts because it's hardwired into the heart of God we are not the center we were never designed to be the center we can't bear the weight of being the center but the Christian galaxy so to speak is most harmonious when Christ is at the center and if Christ is the gravitational pull of all God's people we all will fall into our proper orbit revolving around him and revolving around him coming into fellowship with one another the psalmist invites us into that fellowship and my hope for you this morning is that you would know God is inviting you in if you are a follower of Jesus Christ go deeper he's leading you in if you have yet to follow Jesus know that you will never find outside of him what can only be found in him you were made for him and my prayer for you is the prayer of an old church father that you would be restless until you find your rest in him let's pray father we thank you for the goodness of your grace that we're invited into worship and it's not only I have to it's I get to would you help us to have that sense of longing that sense of desire and as we draw into your presence Lord would you please bless us with the peace that can only be found in you Lord make us restless until we find our rest in you we pray it all in Jesus name and God's people said amen