Psalms of Ascent | If It Had Not Been the Lord Who Was On Our Side

Hi, I'm Janelle. And it has been almost a year to

the day, actually, probably a year in a week that I have been

here. Speaking to you at reality

Church, Boston, and it's such an honor to be here.

And I'm just going to start by reciting our scripture verse for

today, where we're going to be for a bit.

And so, if you have your hand out, or you're out, Up or your

Bibles. Would you turn with me to Psalm

Psalms 124 · chapter mention

chapter 124? We are in the Psalms of ascent.

One of 15 Psalms, that is a pilgrim song.

And some 124 says this. If the Lord had not been on our

side, let Israel say if the Lord had not been on our side.

When people attacked us, they would have swallowed us alive

when their anger flared against us.

The flood would have engulfed us.

The torrent would have swept over us.

The Raging Waters would have swept us away.

Praise be to the Lord. Who has not let this beat, who

has not, let us be torn by their teeth.

We have escaped like a bird from the Fowler's.

Snare, the snare has been broken and we have escaped.

Our help is in the name of the Lord, the maker of heaven and

Earth. Would you pray with me?

Lord I Thank you for the peace that abides in this room that

only comes to the presence of your Holy Spirit I thank you

Lord for your word that is life and truth and Lord more than

ever God, we need light. We need truth and we need

flavor. Lord media in these next couple

minutes, your Holy Spirit be out working our hearts in places

where we might not be aware of. And in places Lord that we are

all too aware of Biden us. Lord Jesus.

In your name, we pray. Amen.

Amen, amen. So hello.

So I was here for about two years, helping out a little bit

with transition. We were going through a lead

Pastor transition. But my day job is that I am a

chaplain at Harvard University, just down the road from here and

every Tuesday and Thursday. I kind of holds office hours and

what that means is that I hang out in a coffee shop and have

coffee with students. That's my office.

You can find me anywhere around Harvard Square either at flower.

Tot eh. And during this particular, I

believe, as a Thursday morning I get there really early in the

morning and I had just met with the student from Harvard Kennedy

School and we had just been talking about really deep

spiritual things. Actually, no, we were talking

about actually summer and what was coming up and I was leaving

this as I love the student and I was kind of coming back to my

car. I am also notorious for parking

tickets. So So, the city of Cambridge

really loves it when I do hold office hours.

Because so many times, I forget that my to ours have expired and

I end up paying $30 to park, which happens more often than

not. So, on this particular day, I

was very excited because I was on time, I was very aware and I

get to my car and I am on a one-way Street and I am about

ready to leave. And this big truck is also

Maneuvering out and Maneuvers out right in front of me and

just stops. So he's like half in a parking

space, half in the middle of this one way street that it is,

you know, as Cambridge and Boston streets are not very

large. And so I sit there and 30

seconds prior, there's nothing there.

I mean, I just walked into my car and just started it and so,

within 30 seconds I'm thinking what is going on?

And so I've been in Boston. For about five years now, and I

have become enculturated to do what bostonians usually do when

they have to. Wait, I go crazy.

And this pie is person, actually, not very, but I start

honking my horn. Incessantly, like, oh, let's go,

buddy. Like, I'm gonna get a ticket

because we're not moving, and I had already been sitting here.

I would love to save for at least 90 seconds.

Probably more like 15. Anyway, I just lose it.

And I'm just like, what is happening?

I'm like, going like this with my hands.

Like, let's go moving along, honking my horn, and the truck

isn't moving, and so I am. So I just sit there for probably

another 90 seconds and then finally this truck moves and

upon this truck moving I see and I'm I'm not exaggerating

probably like an 80 90 year old woman cry.

Passing the street out of nowhere with a cane and

immediately like I am garbage, okay?

Just, you know, this guy like, you know, goes and Russia's

honest and she crosses the street she staring at me, like,

are you a monster? And I'm liking, of course, I'm a

monster like, yes, I'm so sorry. And I proceeded to drive away

like feeling. Like I have a fever because my

face is the site, you know, it's just be read.

And as a high got introduced to the songs, I was sent from

Austin and Rashad and they said, hey, you're on for some 124 and

I began to study what a pilgrims song is an actual pilgrimage.

It was so reminiscent to me on how I how I walk with Jesus.

Attempt to be a pilgrim because I am a mess and I would love to

tell you that. I'm a peaceful person and I love

contemplatively space and I love the quiet.

No, like that makes me crazy and I find that pilgrimage.

Usually draws me into spaces and places that are frustrating.

Where there are big boulders that I can't see around and I'm

called to walk. Only to wait.

Anybody familiar with that. Something very interesting about

the Psalms of ascent, I'm not going to, I listen to Austin and

Rashad and and Rob kind of frame.

You know, some of these songs, I'm just going to give a quick

little review, their 15 songs, okay?

And the children of Israel would sing these songs on their way to

Jerusalem, where they would Pilgrim for one of three

festivals either. The Festival of the Passover

Festival, the Festival of weeks or the festival Tabernacle, And

you know, Rob so perfectly frame, that Within These 15

Psalms each five versus kind of hit three different themes.

So our first theme that I'm going to kind of capsule today

is this theme of trouble. Like this is, you know, we're

remembering what God does when we're in big trouble.

And next week, you're going to be introduced to trust and the

next five chapters after that, kind of hone in, on trusting the

Lord. And finally, I am like our God

is Victorious, but I get the fun, we get the fun, we get to

journey together and to pilgrimage through our last

chapter covering trouble. The thing that keeps coming up.

That has kept coming up as I've been pondering, and reading this

first over and this chapter over and over again, is how clumsy I

am as a pilgrim. What's really interesting is

that when we read scripture, the Lord is always inviting his

people to walk with him, not to run with him, not to Sprint with

him, not to fly with him but to walk.

And nothing around me. Especially living in the city

that I do. Points to walking.

If you're not brisk fully walking down the street, people

will literally like like you're in a car cut you off and walk in

front of you if you're driving slow and you're not driving

according to what bostonians think you should be driving, you

will get honked at, you will get yelled at, you will get spoken

to very beautifully. But I'm reminded in second

2 Corinthians 5:7

Corinthians 5:7. It says this for we walk by

faith and not by sight. Micah 6:8 says this, he has told

Micah 6:8

you o, man, what is good? And what does the Lord require

of you? But to do justice and to love

kindness and to walk humbly with your God.

The Lord walks. And when he says follow me, he

is asking us to walk with him. Pilgrimage also does this.

It opens my eyes to see a bigger picture because I am walking.

Sometimes frustratingly. So I am able to see things from

a Viewpoint that being in A hurried Rush, keeps me from

doing one thing that I really felt that the Lord was calling

us to do today especially within this within this chapter is to

yield So, I'm going to read this chapter again from the message

and I want you to close your eyes as I read.

And let's yield. Psalm 124 says this, if God

hadn't been for us all together now is real single out.

If God hadn't been for us, when everyone went against us, we

would have been swallowed Alive by their violent anger Swept

Away by the flood of Rage, drowned and torrent, we would

have lost our lives in the wild Raging Water.

Oh blessed. Be God.

He didn't go off and leave us. He didn't abandon us defenseless

helpless as a rabbit in a pack of snarling dogs.

We flown free from their fangs, free of their traps free as a

bird. Their grip is broken, were free

as a bird in flight. God, strong name is our help the

same God who made Heaven and Earth.

What this chapter is underscoring, is that in the

magnification and true of trouble.

Violence, anger of betrayal of Abandonment of being a captive.

They are. God can be found.

But friends, we are not equipped.

To sit in that. Our world is a really good job

and provides many means for us to ignore to deny and to

silence. Some of life's worst fears that

has just been underscored in this chapter.

Eugene Peterson says this. Psalm 124 is an instance, of a

person who digs deeply into the trouble and finds their the

presence of God, who is on our side.

I'm going to say this again. Psalm 124 is an instance, of a

person who digs deeply into the trouble and finds their the

presence of God, who is on our side.

What if this Psalm is inviting us to Journey Into the deepest

fears of our heart. What if this Psalm is inviting

us to be a pilgrim in places and spaces where we've done a lot of

hard work to pretend, I don't exist.

We numb ourselves. To the violence that happens day

in and day out all around the world.

We medicate our anger at things that we cannot control. we

excuse the abandonment that we fear might happen, if we just

allow one person in, even the presence of God, I want you to

turn with me to John Chapter 11. When Richard asked me to speak,

John 11 · chapter mention

I was hoping that he was going to give me free rein to talk

about whatever I wanted to. That wasn't the case.

But the Lord had put this this chapter on my heart when Richard

reached out to me and said, hey, I'm would you be available to

speak at rallies? That absolutely and I got really

excited because I'm like I think I Have a word for this church

and then he's like, okay so we're doing the Psalms of ascent

I'm like oh okay but don't you worry as I was studying the Lord

has a way of bridging bridging things together the the Lord put

on my heart, The Story of Lazarus.

And in John 11. I'm just going to set the scene

right now. John is actually an Immaculate

book. If you haven't sat in the Book

of John I would encourage you to do that to read it.

John is paralleling. Exodus in this gospel which is a

little bananas but that's a whole other sermon for a whole

nother time. We're not going to talk about

that but he is capitalizing the works of Jesus with this moment

with There is being raised from the dead.

But what I find so, interesting in.

This is how Jesus is on a pilgrimage of his own during

this chapter. He's on his way to Jerusalem,

and on his way to Jerusalem, the friends whom he loves very much

are in trouble. And so, he stops.

So we're going to pick up in verse 17.

And it says, now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had

already been in the Tomb. Four days, Bethany was near

Jerusalem about two miles off. So, he's two miles away from,

from where his pilgrimage is about to end because Passover is

coming and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to

console them concerning their brother.

So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met

him, but Mary remain seated in the house.

Martha said to Jesus. Lord, if you had been here, my

brother would not have died. So we're going to skip down to

verse 28. When she Martha had said that

she went and called her sister Mary saying privately, the

teacher is here and is calling for you.

So Mary is in the house and she is not meeting Jesus because

she's she's heartbroken and when she heard it she Rose quickly

and went to him. Now, Jesus had not yet come into

the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met

him. When the Jews who were with her

in the house consoling, her saw Mary rice quickly and go, they

followed her supposing that she was going to the tomb to Beep

there. Now, when Mary came to her,

Jesus was she saw him? She fell at his feet saying to

him? Lord, if you had been here, my

brother would not have died. Exactly.

When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her

also weeping, Jesus was deeply moved and his spirit and greatly

troubled. And he said, where have you laid

him? They said to him Lord come and

see verse 35. Jesus wept.

So that you said see how he loved him, but some of them said

could not. He who opened the eyes of the

blind, man also have, kept this man from dying.

We're going to stop right there. Friends, in the magnification of

trouble, God can be found. But I will tell you what.

Always accompanies trouble doubt.

And as Eugene Peterson is beckoning us to lean into

trouble. I feel like the first greeter at

the door is doubt. We see Martha and we see Mary

and we see the crowd saying one thing to Jesus, as he appears on

the scene of Lazarus is death, Lord.

If he would have been here, our brother would not have died.

And I feel like that statement encapsulate, it's were our

pilgrimage, usually stops. It's where we say, you know

what? I can't.

This trouble is too big for you. God.

You know, Jesus Does He Weeps. He doesn't flip a table and get

frustrated at their doubt. He doesn't say.

Look at me. Hello?

Have more faith. Jesus sits in their grief and he

cries. The son of God.

Is inconsolable. Friends trouble leads us to a

tomb. And it leads us and it leads us

bound and Jesus enters into the scene.

And he enters into the scene and he enters into the doubt.

Deep. And the question Lord, if you

would have been here, my brother would not have died.

C for us pilgrims, the worst case scenario is death, the

worst-case scenario is betrayal. The worst-case scenario is

abandonment. But Jesus.

What I love about this is that in each of these interations,

Jesus shows up and is faithful. We're going to go back to

chapter 11. We're going to go to verse 22,

and this is Jesus and Martha speaking.

Martha says, I'm going to say it one more time.

Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

But even now, I know that whatever you ask from God, God

will give you. Jesus said to her, your brother

will rise. Again, Martha said to him, I

know that he will rise again, in the Resurrection on the last

day. Jesus said to her, I am the

resurrection and the life whoever believes In me, though.

He die. Yet shall he?

Live. And everyone who lives and

Believes In Me, shall never die. Do you believe this?

She said to him? Yes.

Lord I believe that you are the Christ, the son of God, who was

coming into the world. Verse 8 of Psalm 124 God, strong

name is our help the same. God who made Heaven and Earth.

I am. He's beginning to uncover at the

worst-case scenario for any Pilgrim death.

Life. Resurrection.

See, this was the first resurrection.

It was Martha. She was the first one to

acknowledge who Jesus was. But it doesn't stop there.

Verse 38. Then Jesus deeply moved again,

Eugene Peterson. And the message says, Jesus was

angry. He's angry.

At the Brokenness of this world came to the tomb.

It was a cave and a stone lay against it.

Jesus said, take away the stone Martha, the sister of the dead

man said to him. Lord, by this time, there will

be an odor for he has been dead for days.

Jesus said to her, did I not tell you that if you believed,

you would see the glory of God. So they took away the stone.

Jesus. Lifted up his eyes and said,

father, I thank you that you have heard me.

I knew that you always hear me but I said, This on account of

the people standing around that, they may believe that you sent

me verse 43 when he said these things, he cried out with a loud

voice Lazarus. Come out the man who had died

came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his

face wrapped with cloth, with a cloth.

Jesus said to them, unbind him, and let him go.

Trouble will always make us believe that the worst case

scenario is actually not the worst case scenario.

What we witness in this chapter and in the verses that we just

read together is a foreshadowing of what Jesus of what his

pilgrimage was taking him too. Death, a tomb.

Being bound. A violent and Angry Crowd,

yelling crucify him. The Betrayal of his twelve

closest friends, including the friends that he just radically

changed. Abandonment as everyone leaves

him. Jesus has pilgrimage leads him

to a place. That is desolate and lonely,

we're death awaits him, but this is a death that is very

different than anything we will ever experience.

Because not even God. Was present Upon Jesus At The

Cross. He turned his face to a son and

what I can't help. But to think this anguish of

Psalm 124 that this that David is writing an authoring.

This is what God has saved us from Jesus.

All Too. Well, is probably reciting these

very words as he's on his way to Jerusalem.

But that's not where our story ends, thanks be to God.

Because three days later. Jesus rose.

And when I can't help but to think and to get excited about

is that as we Pilgrim and as we journey, we don't do this alone.

What? I love about what happens after

Jesus calls out the name of Lazarus and Lazarus comes out.

What does he do? The community around him, what

does he tell them to do and find him friends?

It takes the Jesus to call us from death to life.

But it takes a community of people to set us free.

And as we Pilgrim, we don't Pilgrim alone we Pilgrim with

those that are sitting right next to You.

In This Very Room, those that aren't here, but are far but you

are connected through the body of Christ.

And so my hope and my prayer is that we wouldn't stop at doubt.

Is that we wouldn't stop at trouble but that we would trust

and the name of the Lord Our God and that it is through his name,

the name of Jesus, who knows your name?

that in those moments where you feel like this is it We're done

that. You would hear.

Hey Austin, come out. That you would hear.

Hey Sarah, come out. And there you would find a

familiar voice of resurrection of restoration and a piece.

And that through that, you would find the joy.

Of Heaven. I would, you know, I would love

to say that heaven is our destination, but I think it's

more like Resurrection. And know that no matter what

trouble can I just say this, I don't know what it took, most of

you to walk through that door this afternoon.

As someone who does church. And I say this, this might sound

terrible for me to say for a living, okay?

I forget how hard it is. Sometimes to walk through that

door and to be here, And to sit with other people with the

weight of trouble or worry or anxiety.

But I want to tell you something right now.

I am as here. And he wants to meet you in your

trouble and he wants to meet you and your doubt don't stop.

Don't stop walking. So as we close, I'm going to

leave you. With Eugene's words.

Psalm 124 is an instance, of a person who digs deeply into the

trouble and finds there, the presence of God, who is on our

side as we go into a time of silence.

As we go into a time of examination and reflection, I

want you to bring some of those things that you might have

worked really hard to not feel or to acknowledge.

And I want you to bring them before the Lord in the quietness

of your seat and in this room. I'm going to pray for us.

As we go into our silent time.