SUMMER IN THE PSALMS: Psalm 68

Chris McCurley: Morning. Brian got done with his Lord's Supper meditation and sat down and my granddaughter goes, Pawpaw's turn. So this is my turn. I'm going to try to take advantage of it. It's good to see you all this morning. I hope you've had a great week. You're visiting with us, and it's your first time this summer. We're in the Psalms. If you want to turn to Psalm 68, we're not going to necessarily put it on the screen. ⁓ we're going to read through it together. But I want to start with a question. And here is the question. Why does the church exist? Why does the church exist? A guy by the name of Wynn Arne a few years ago did a survey of a thousand churches. And he asked the members, why does the church exist? What is the purpose of the church? And 89% responded: the purpose of the church is to take care of me and my needs. 11% said that the purpose of the church is to spread the gospel. Now that same question was asked of ministers in these thousand churches. Why does the church exist? And ninety percent of the ministers said the church exists to spread the gospel. Ten percent of those ministers said the purpose of the church is to take care of the members' needs. So the whole survey was turned on its head when you asked the ministers versus when you asked the members. Nothing Precedes purpose. The starting point of any church should be: why do we exist? Why does the Walnut Street Church of Christ exist? Because if we can't determine that, if we can't point to our purpose, then it affects our foundation, it affects our motivation, it affects the assimilation of this body. The early church knew why it existed. There was no doubt in their minds as to their purpose. We must all be aware of why we exist because it is so vitally important, so much so that Paul hammered it over and over again in his letters. I want you to look at Ephesians chapter four. I know you had told you to turn to ⁓ Psalm 68, but Ephesians chapter 4, starting in verse 1, this is what Paul writes. I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. There is one spirit, one body and one spirit. Just as you were called in the hope, ⁓ to the hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through. I was about twelve years old. And I watched the movie Rad. You ever seen the movie Rad? you should have won an Academy Award, but it's about ⁓ dirt bikes. And I wanted a dirt bike. Specifically I wanted a blue and silver Pacific dirt bike. I don't know if anybody remembers Pacific dirt bikes. And one day I come home and it's my birthday and in the driveway there is a blue and silver Pacific bicycle. And I was so excited. I could hardly turn the pedals. ⁓ I was so, so eager to get on the thing and ride. And as I'm driving around the driveway and down the street, my mother shouts to me, Now you take care of it. You hear me? And I think that's what Paul is saying in the letter to the Ephesians. He's telling them that you have been given a gift. The church is a glorious gift. Now you take care of it, you hear me? The book of Ephesians can really be divided into two parts. Chapters 1 through 3 are talking about our identity in Christ, who we were and now who we are, because we have put on Christ in baptism. Chapters 4 through 6 talk about our activity in Christ. So 1 through 3 are identity in Christ. 4 through 6 our activity in Christ. And chapter 4 is really kind of a pivot point. The letter is talking to the Ephesians about the blessings that come from being in Christ, being in the kingdom, being in the Lord's church. And the first three chapters. Chapters describe the glory, the magnificence that the Gentiles had partaken of. They were dead in their sins and trespasses, but now they were alive in Christ. And so he's telling them to focus on living like blessed people. We've said this before, but throughout the letters, Paul tells his people basically, you've been baptized, now what? Right? That should motivate everything that we are and everything that we do. You've been baptized, so now what? You have put on Christ, so now what? And so Paul is talking about being a new creature in Christ, what that means. You're not Gentiles anymore, you're the new Israel, and we are a new creation. One day we're going to take hold of that inheritance, that promise that God has made us, and so we must live like people who are new creatures, living in a new kingdom. And look at verse 15. For this reason, I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints. Now, let me read that again. For this reason, I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints. Those are the marks of a great church. A deep love for the Father and a deep love for the saints. It's really the Shema, I just state it a little differently. Remember the Shema? Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength, love your neighbor as yourself. If you get those two things down, you've got the essence of Christianity into. Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength, love your neighbor as yourself. And that's really what Paul is pointing to here as the marks of a great church. Have a deep love for the Lord and a deep love for the brethren. And then he talks about how this is treasuring the gift. As your mom used to say, now take care of it, you hear me? That's what he's saying here. And what is the prevailing theme in Paul's letters? What's unity? He comes back to this theme over and over. Unity is a thread that runs throughout every letter that Paul writes. Paul had a zeal for unity. And what are the core traits of a church that is unified, that is on the same page? We'll go back to verses one through six humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit, the bond of peace. Notice that Paul wasn't talking about preferences. He wasn't talking about scruples or opinions. You don't have to be united on those things. But you do need to be united on these humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. And here's something else that is key to understanding Paul's push for unity and taking care of the gift. The body that we so often refer to as the church. Is so much more than just a collection of Christians. I think that's what we think of when we hear body or congregation. But if that's all we think of, if that's all we're relating to when we hear church, then we're missing out on so much. Because for Paul, body is a metaphor for the physical Jesus being manifested in and through God's people. That's what he has in mind when he talks about the church. And it's what you should have in mind when you read about the body in Scripture. The body is the physical representation of Jesus in and through Jesus' people in the world around us. And so the incarnation of Jesus happens in a corporate way so that the Messiah is physically present in the world and is working through this human body known as the church. And then Paul tells us here are the things that we need to be united on. There's a lot of question about that in the brotherhood. What do we have to be united on? What can we divide over? And I think if you boil it all down, this is what you have to be united on. This right here. One body, one spirit that animates that body. There is one hope. One new creation that we're all headed towards. One Lord, one faith in that Lord. And there is one God, one baptism, one covenant practice that all people go through to be a part of this body. And then there's one God and Father through all and in all. What does that mean? Well, that's temple language. That's temple language. We are his dwelling place. It's 1 Corinthians chapter 6, isn't it? Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. So Paul is constantly banging this drum of unity and how we all need to be on the same page. Why? Well, you think about how greatly hindered the efforts of the church, the body, would be if we're not all on the same page. If we are disjointed, if we are not all singing the same tune, then the mission of the Lord's church is going to be greatly hindered. But While Paul emphasizes unity here, he doesn't stress uniformity. Because while we all have to be on the same page, united in in a common goal, we're not all the same. We're unified, but we're not uniform. And he gave some, his apostles, prophets, and evangelists, shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. So we are one, but our unity is expressed. through our unif our our our ways that we ⁓ take our diversity and contribute to this body, right? So we are united but we're not uniform. We have all been given certain gifts and we use those gifts to contribute to the health and welfare of the body. Now some are leadership roles like evangelists and prophets and and and things of that nature. And they are there to equip the saints to grow and mature so that the church is as strong and as effective as possible. And at this point you may be thinking, okay, Chris, you just said we're in the Psalms and you've spent all of your time in Ephesians. Are you losing it? And the answer is yes. I've been losing it for quite some time, but that has nothing to do with the sermon this morning. You can read through Ephesians in its entirety sometime, and what you will see is Psalm 68 spilling out all over the place. If you have a Bible that uses cross references, which most of you do, you'll notice many times over that there is a cross reference back to Psalm 68. This happens quite often with the New Testament writers. And Jesus as well. They refer back to the Psalms, and Paul is certainly doing that here. Look at ⁓ Ephesians chapter 4, verses 7 through 10. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it says, When he ascended on high, he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men. In saying he ascended, what does it mean but that he also descended into the lower regions of the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. Again, if you have a Bible with cross references, you'll notice the reference back to Psalm 68. And here is a brief summary of Psalm 68. The psalmist depicts God as the divine victor. He is the hero of Israel. He has demolished all of his enemies, and there is a parade. The people think that their hero has saved them, and he has, and so they're thanking him, they're praising him, they're singing songs of praise to his name because they have won the victory all because of God. And that is the imagery that Paul is playing off of in Ephesians. But did you notice? That Paul reverses the image from Psalm 68. When he ascended on high, he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men. So instead of the hero getting gifts, the hero gives gifts. And you read this and you say, Well, is that allowed? Can Paul do that? I mean, we're always cautioned about adding to and taking away from scripture. Is Paul allowed to do that? He took it and he twisted it, didn't he? He reversed the image. And the truth of the matter is, folks, you may not like this, but if you read through scripture, you find that the writers do this quite a bit. They have a image in mind from the Psalms or or or some other story in scripture, and they it's almost like they're paraphrasing, or they take that image and they use it to their advantage in their writings. It doesn't change the meaning or the whole of Scripture, but we actually see this quite often. And I don't know what was going on in Paul's brain as to exactly why he did this, but you can read through Psalm sixty eight and you get a pretty good idea. Because Psalm 68 is a battle hymn. Remember, the Psalms are songs, and this is a song about God facing his enemies. The rival nations that have stood against God and have brought harm to God's people are going to be destroyed. They're going to be melted like wax. It's judgment day for them. And what are the righteous doing? They're singing praises to God. Many of the songs we sang this morning focused on singing praises to God because that's what Psalm 68 is about: singing praises to God for the victory. Now, the apostles. Often would quote from the different Psalms, as I said, and here is an example of that. They're raising their voices in this psalm in praise to the one who rescued them. And where else did this happen? Where else do you see this in Scripture? Well, it goes all the way back to the Exodus story. In Exodus, we see God rescuing his people, bringing them through the Red Sea. And what did they do? They sang a song of praise to God. And that story was always on the minds of God's people. It was a big part of their history, right? God rescuing them from Egyptian slavery, leading them towards the promised land, and so they naturally sang. So Psalm 68 is a reflection on the Exodus story, and it is meant to be sung for generations to cons to continue singing God's praise. Verse 4: Sing to God. Sing praises to his name. Lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts. His name is the Lord. Exalt before him. Where did God's people go after passing through the Red Sea? Well, in the wilderness. Verses 5 and 6. Father of the fatherless and protector of widows. Is God in his holy habitation? God settles the solitary in a home. He leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land. What does the Exodus story reveal about the God of Israel? It reveals that he is a father to the fatherless, that he is a protector of widows, that he has a home for the lonely. He he's everything they didn't have while in captivity. God is the opposite of Pharaoh, the opposite of all the gods the Egyptians served. That's really what the Ten Plagues is all about. It's showing that God is above all those other gods that you've been praying to and proclaiming. And so God is the victor. The rebels don't receive prosperity, only the righteous do. The rebels instead receive a parched land for their home. Verses 7 and 8. This retells the Exodus story. ⁓ God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness, Selah, the earthquake, the heavens poured down rain before God, the one of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel. And so the people acknowledge the power of God, the power of all the earth and everything that He created, power over the weather, even. The Lord gives the word. The women who announce the news are great host. The kings of the armies. They flee, they flee. The women at home divide the spoil. Though you men lie among the sheepfolds, the wings of a dove covered with silver, its pinions with shimmering gold. When the Almighty scatters kings there, let snow fall on Zalman. So we're back to this army imagery, this battle. Men are singing hymns. Then the women come out in their choirs and they're they're singing songs of praise as the enemy flees. Then look at verse 15. ⁓ mountain of God, mountain of Bishon, O many peaked mountain, mountain of Bashan. And you think, why the switch to geography at this point? Why mention Bashan? Well, you gotta understand that in the Hebrew, anytime they talked about geography, it wasn't just mapdots. Something occurred there that was emblazoned in their memory and something that they played off quite often. And Bajon, Bayon is, is a location that is way up north, north of the Sea of Galilee, and north of where Jesus grew up at the foot of these mountains. There was a spring and a and a river there at a place called Cesarea Philippi. Do you remember what occurred at Cesarea Philippi? In the Jesus story. He takes his apostles there to reveal his identity. It's also there that he he claims that he's going to build his church and the gates of hell will not overcome it. Why? Why would he take them to the area of Bishon? Bisham was the opposite of Sinai. You know what Sinai was? That was the place where God made his presence known, where he dwelt with his people. Bisham was the opposite of that. That was a place of death. It's where death and and destruction dwelt. And that's where Jesus takes his apostles to tell them, I'm going to build my church on this rock and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. It's a pretty serious imagery there, right? Jesus is using this as imagery to say, uh-huh. None of this is going to stand. None of this can overpower me or what I build. Jesus is a new deliverer who's going to conquer sin and death, who will build his church, who will lead his people to the promised land. There couldn't be a better psalm for Paul to quote in this situation. Paul, Paul knew his audience, and he knew his audience knew this story. In fact, that's what Ephesians 1 through 3 is all about. It's about their story and how their story plays out. And so Paul quotes Psalm 68, verse 18. You ascended on high, leading a host of captives. In your train and receiving gifts among men. But Paul inverts it. Notice it again. When he ascended on high, he led a host of captives and he gave gifts to men. The hero doesn't get gifts, the hero gives gifts. Why does Paul do this? Well, the rest of this Psalm gives us the answer. It replays the victory over evil. But there's another deliverance story at play here. Look at verses 20 through 23, Psalm 68. Our God is a God of salvation, and to God the Lord belong deliverances from death. But God will strike the heads of his enemies. The hairy crown of him who walks in his guilty ways. The Lord said, I will bring them back from Bashan. I will bring them back from the depths of the sea, that you may strike your feet in their blood, that the tongues of your dogs may have their portion from the foe. Wow. Pretty graphic language, but there's also Genesis language here, isn't there? Like we talked about at the beginning of this series. The psalmists revert back to Genesis a lot. There's Eden language, garden language, creation language. Did you notice strike the head? That's from Genesis. And here's where it all leads to. Last verse of Psalm 68. Awesome is God from his sanctuary, the God of Israel. He is the one who gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God. Did you catch it? God gives gifts to his people. And what are these gifts? Power, strength? We need strength. We need power for the battle against the foe. We know that we win this thing, that we are victorious in the end, but that doesn't mean that there's going to be a lot of wounded casualties along the way. So when Paul quotes Psalm 68, he's not just quoting a line. He's got this whole psalm, Psalm 68 in his mind. It's like this psalm is a template for him. And in fact, you can read through the whole book of Ephesians, and again, you see Psalm 68 seeping out everywhere. The hero gives gifts. And what are these gifts? Power and strength. And who are they given to? Well, in the context of Paul's words here, they're given to people in the body, like apostles and evangelists and elders and and teachers. And remember, the church is not just a collection of Christians. Body is a metaphor for the physical representation of Jesus in and through God's people. And so when you read through Ephesians, you find that Paul is playing off of this battle imagery of Psalm 68. We are more than conquerors, we win. But within the immediate context of Ephesians chapter four, gifts are also people. People with gifts, apostles, evangelists, and and and and pastors and teachers, etc. People with gifts, but the people themselves are gifts. They are gifts to the church to equip, to to to help us to grow and mature. But they're not the only gifts. We all have gifts. And as people, we are a gift to the church. And so we have to determine what it is that we've been gifted because there's no such thing as a zero talent individual. Everybody has some sort of gift, and we've got to figure out what that gift is so that we can use it in the glory of God and to the further mission of the church. I'll tell you this. Chris Edge is a gift to me. Chad Garrett is a gift to me. Austin, you're a gift to me. So many people here are gifts to me. And you could say the same thing about many people here, couldn't you? Many of you here have people here who are a gift to you, and that's by design. That's on purpose. God has given us gifts, and those gifts aren't just abilities or talents, they're people. And that's what Paul's getting at. Don't just read this from Paul and say, ⁓ yeah, we've all got a gift and we all should use it. You're a gift. You in and of yourself are a gift. Take care of it now, you hear me? Cherish it. Understand who you are and what you have to give. Take care of the gift. Paul had a zeal for unity. Understand, we don't create unity. It always cracks me up when some brethren will say, Yeah, I just fellowshipped them. That's God's department, not yours. You don't create unity. You can ruin it, but you don't create it. Your only job is to keep it, to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace, all with a full measure of God's power and strength. When we do this, when we all realize the power of our unity and the diversity that contributes to that unity, we are a powerful force. in this community and beyond, aren't we? There was a motorist who was driving his car down a country road, it was a desolate area, and unfortunately he lost control and he ended up in a ditch. But thankfully a an old farmer was passing by with a with a big strong horse and carriage and he pulled over and he hooked his big strong horse to the car and he said the the horse's name was Buddy by the way, that's an important detail of the story. He hooks Buddy up to the car and he says, Pull, Nelly, pull. And the horse does nothing. He says, All right, pull, Coco, pull. Nothing happens. He says, Pull, Brownie, pull. Still nothing. Finally he says, pull, buddy, pull, and pull buddy pulls that car right out of the ditch. No problem at all. Piece of cake. And the motorist was so thankful to the farmer and his horse, but he was also a little confused and he asked him, Why did you call your horse by the wrong name three times? He said, ⁓ buddy's blind. If he thought he was the only one pulling, he'd never try. And I'm afraid that sometimes that happens in the body of Christ. Look, nothing is going to kill the Lord's church. Jesus said as much. Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Nothing is going to kill the Lord's church. It's going to stand until he returns. But this church, this one right here at Walnut Street, yeah, you can kill it. You can definitely kill it. And it and it doesn't take a whole lot. All it takes is for you to do nothing. All it takes is for a bunch of us not to pull our weight. And this church is in trouble. I don't want to see that happen to you. I I want to see this church be a beacon for generations to come. I was in Red River, New Mexico a couple weeks ago. Bunch of preachers there, and we all sit around and we talk, and I can't tell you how many of them said, you know, Walnut Street has such a good reputation. One of them said, you're you're you're stepping into a job there where you know there's there's been so many good preachers through the years and it has a long history of being solid and being a ⁓ a beacon of truth in this in that community and even around the Nashville area. And I said, Yeah, I can't I can't disagree with you. I see that myself. I want that to continue, don't you? For generations to come. I love what the legendary coach John Wooden used to say. He said, the main ingredient for stardom. is the rest of the team. How true is that? Let's be a winning church. There is an I and team. There is a you and us. And if you don't pull, we don't win. Let's pray. God, thank you for another day. Thank you for the opportunity to be here, for this wonderful church family, and may we strive to be everything you would have us to be. God, you didn't bring us this far just to bring us this far. May we be thankful for our history and for what you've done for us, but may we always be striving to take that next step. And may we be a powerful force against the devil, and may we win many on our way to victory. We love you, and it's in your Son's precious name we pray. Amen. We have a cherished gift here. And if you have been looking for a church home and you've been searching, and I want you to know that this is a wonderful family of God's people that are not perfect, but are saved by God's grace. And we would love to help you learn more about this family. If you're somebody who has thought about kingdom and discipleship and you'd like to learn more about that then certainly we'd love to study with you. And maybe you've thought about all those things and and something has tethered you to the pew, something has kept you from stepping out and and answering the invitation and putting on Christ and baptism for the remission of your sins. Something has just held you back and I I would encourage you this morning to cut the cord and don't wait. There is no better time than right now. To make the most important decision of your life. This is a cherished gift. Take care of it now, you hear me?

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention 1 Corinthians 6 · chapter mention Ephesians 4:7–10 Psalms 68:18