Habit of The Word

We looked last week about the habit of community because what we wanted to try and work through is how these spiritual disciplines strengthen us to be a supplemented strength in the lives of others.

Too often we think through the lens of consumerism and self-benefit.

How does going to this church benefit me?

How does going to this community group benefit me?

How does these things benefit me?

But really what we see in Scripture is that we are strengthened to be strength in the life of others.

And so your presence is necessary that I might persevere with the faith I confess, right?

And so we need one another.

And so we looked at the habit of community last week, this means of grace that we might persevere in this life.

And this week we're going to be looking at the habit of the word and the discipline of God's scripture.

Here's what I think is really cool.

In his work, Reflections on the Psalms, C.S.

Lewis called this Psalm, Psalm 19, the greatest poem in the Psalter and one of the greatest lyrics in the world.

That's a big statement.

But coming from a giant himself.

You see, this psalm, it contains three distinct stanzas about the glory of God displayed through his work, the holiness of God revealed through his word, and the effect that his self-disclosure has on his people.

It presents this unified theology through what we will call the two great books of nature and scripture, where both testify to God's person and character.

But we have to understand that scripture provides the necessary special revelation that creation alone cannot offer.

I like the way that John Calvin, the reformer from the late 1500s, phrased this.

He said, From nature we know only the hands and feet of God, but from scripture we may know his very heart.

You see, this psalm is considered one of the clearest biblical statements on how God reveals himself through both natural and written revelation.

But we can't just leave it in a place where it just helps us understand how God reveals himself.

It's also about God's revelation of himself affecting us, changing us, transforming us, impacting us when we pursue knowing him through it.

You see, it'll help us see that it generates vitality, it elicits emotion, it satisfies desire, it produces joy.

God revealing himself through his work and word that we might know him, and in knowing him we might have joy.

Joy being this deep emotion that is excited by obtaining or eagerly expecting good.

And what greater good could we have ever hoped to obtain than him?

And what greater expectation of good could we ever have than the fulfillment of his promises to us?

So Psalm 19 invites us to bear witness to his goodness toward us in the revealing of himself through his work and word that we might know him and in knowing him have joy.

So if you have your Bible or app, let's open to Psalm 19.

We're gonna be working through this together, starting with verses 1 through 3.

The psalmist David declares, the heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.

There is no speech, nor are there words whose voice is not heard.

So we're first, we are able to know God in part through the book of nature.

In his great work of anthropology, Paul helps us see that all of us can know God and know that there is a God through nature.

And what our problem is, is that we suppress that truth, right?

In our sinfulness and selfishness, we know, but we refuse to acknowledge, and so we push it down so that we can do whatever we so desire in this life.

But God is able to be known through nature, and we are held accountable to that knowledge because of its sufficiency for our own self.

All we have to do is open our eyes and heart to the awe and wonder of nature to know that there is a God.

Creation is this means of divine testimony revealing God's glory.

The Hebrew concept of glory, it conveys weightiness or substance, and the divine weight becomes tangible to us when we pursue to contemplate creation's splendor and recognize our place as creatures within God's created world.

I think a lot of us don't take time to be in awe of God's work of nature.

We don't contemplate his splendor and majesty, his power and excellency in what he has made.

Right?

We're just surrounded by these concrete jungles that are so lifeless and cold.

Nature continuously declares this powerful and majestic works of God.

The psalm says there's never a moment when this testimony would cease.

It continuously pours forth, and nor is there anyone who does not hear it.

Regarded widely as America's greatest theologian, Jonathan Edwards referred to this as the sacramental power of God's handiwork.

That in creation he saw and encountered and adored the Creator.

In one of his journal entries, he wrote this.

He said, I often used to sit and view the moon for continuance, and in the day spent much time in viewing the clouds and sky to behold the sweet glory of God in these things.

In the meantime, singing forth with a low voice my contemplations of the Creator and Redeemer.

In verses four through seven, the psalmist conveys the sun as that which produces light and heat for God's glory to be seen and felt by every creature.

It is tangible in its radiance every day, reminding us of the radiance of God's glory.

Now it's important for us to fix our minds on the fact that we are not beholding the glory of nature, but it is that through nature we are beholding the glory of God Himself.

You see, the psalmist has no problem to personify nature, but he refuses to deify it.

We should not confuse the two.

It is through his handiwork of creation that we are able to witness the glory of our Maker.

Creation is not an end in itself.

Nature is not God, it is God's work that sings his praise.

And so to try and ascribe weight to nature, glory to nature is like in trying to invest weightiness in only the painting rather than ascribing it to the very hand that held the brush.

And to help us in this, that we might not be confused.

God knew we would need something greater than nature to know him rightly.

And so in his goodness, God has given us another recording of his revelation in the book of Scripture that we see in verses 7 through 11, so that we would not idolatrously confuse creation with the creator.

In this stanza, the psalmist presents these six aspects of God's revelation, each with a distinctive quality and a divine effect, all flowing from God's special revelation to humanity.

And so the psalm declares in it that God's law is perfect, his testimony sure, his precepts are right, his commandments pure, the fear of him is clean, and his rules are true.

This is what the psalmist lays out for us in verses 7 through 11.

But we're missing the beautiful effect that his revelation has on us.

You see, many of us, we may be able to give mental assent to these statements being true.

We may be able to have some degree of belief about each one of them that we confess that, yes, these things are true about God in his revelation to us.

But if we miss the effect, we've missed it altogether.

If we only allow ourselves to be persuaded in the head but not stirred in the heart, we have not had the relationship with God that he has desired from us.

You see, God's revelation to us is not just so that we can know about him, but it is so that we can know him.

And in knowing him, we can be excited to joy.

Look at the effect of his revelation on the psalmist as he contemplates the goodness of God's revelation.

Reviving the soul, making wise the simple, rejoicing the heart, enlightening the eyes, enduring forever, making righteous.

This is the excitement of joy in the life of a man who pursues knowing God.

His soul is revived with vigor and vitality.

He has clarity of direction and confidence and decision making.

His heart is filled with celebration and happiness.

He is absent of guilt and crushing shame.

And who wants to be like that?

A life marked by those attributes and characteristics.

I want to be that in my own life.

But look at how he has become this type of man.

Is it through therapy sessions?

A psychiatrist prescription?

The newest influencer-promoted product, a groundbreaking productivity system, unlocking a new level on your video game or winning your fantasy football league?

No.

And hear me, I'm not saying those things are wrong.

But if our hope to become that type of person is rooted in them, we are only failing ourselves.

No, he has become this type of man solely by pursuing to know God through his own self-revelation.

And look at the way that he values God's word in scripture.

How he relates to it as the satisfaction of his own desire.

Verses 10 and 11.

Speaking of God's word.

More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.

Moreover, by them is your servant warned, and keeping them there is great reward, reward.

You see, the very word of God, it surpasses any earthly treasure that could be desired by the hearts of men.

And think about how we allow this to simply collect dust on our nightstand.

You see, it's by his word that we know him.

We know him rightly.

And in knowing him, we've obtained the fullness of the satisfaction of our soul's desire.

We've obtained joy.

You see how good he is to us?

That he didn't leave us in speculation and mystery, covered under darkness, just trying to take stabs and best guesses at who he is and what he's like.

No, in his love and kindness, he has shown himself to us in his own divine self-disclosure that we might pursue him and know him and have joy in that.

This is his kindness that he's given to us.

These two great books of his work and his word that we might be fully satisfied with knowing him.

Because, church, knowing God is the pursuit of eternal joy.

Knowing God is the pursuit of eternal joy.

You see, this psalm shows us both the way God has made himself able to be known and the effect knowing him has on his people.

You see, when the Creator made us, creatures who bear his image, he made us for this joy-filled relationship with him, to know him relationally, as we communed with him in the midst of his creation, to have an intimacy with him as the source of unfading and unending joy.

But through our rebellion and distrust in his goodness, that communion was severed and we became estranged.

We were cut off from true joy.

And this is the summation of our life.

We've been trying to find the road that leads us back to joy.

You see, God in his mercy, he revealed himself through his work and word as a sure and faithful road back.

Back to him, back to joy.

A steady pathway that we could pursue him on, to know him and be in relationship with him.

And in that pursuit that we could obtain the eternal joy that our soul actually desires in him.

But too often our lives are filled with other pursuits that leave us unsatisfied and longing for more.

Because you and I, we are in an incessant search for joy.

And much of our dissatisfaction, much of our misery, much of our shame is all rooted in the fact that we're trying to discover it in eternally lesser things.

You see, we pursue joy from eternally lesser things.

Here's the deceptiveness about this life we live.

Every pursuit in our lives carries with it an implicit promise of joy.

If you can just have that new thing, make that new purchase, accomplish this new achievement, or have this new experience, this will finally bring the satisfaction that you seek.

Every single thing, and if it is good in its own deception, promises joy on the other side of it.

We talked about the deceptiveness of sin.

Sin never shows itself as wicked and evil as something that seeks to devour you.

We'd run away from it.

No, it clothes itself in beauty, it promises joy.

And so we pick and we eat.

These sources of happiness, these false joys, they prove either immediately hollow or temporarily satisfying at best, but they cannot sustain.

And so they leave us perpetually searching because they lack any weight, substance to sustain the genuine joy our hearts long for.

Think about everything we chase in life.

Expecting that it's going to bring us this joy.

The purchases we make, the accomplishments we strive for, the status we seek, the comparison we make with one another, the instant gratification that we have to have right now, the control that we white knuckle, the perfectionism that we put on display.

The list goes on and on and on.

And all of these are these little pathways away from God, trying to lure you into this promise of joy?

It's as if our entire existence is based in pursuit.

And what are we pursuing?

How often do we ever truly stop to just contemplate what our lives are actually chasing after?

What if the chase of our life is after the divine Himself?

What if life is purely to pursue Him?

What if we'll be restless until we rest in Him?

What if we will be joyless until our joy is found in knowing Him?

You see, the closing reflective prayer of the psalmist in verses 12 through 14 sounds like a man who is pleading for God's grace to not pursue joy in lesser things, to not have his life be one of traversing sinful and selfish pursuits.

Look at verses 12 through 14.

Who can discern his heirs?

Declare me innocent from hidden faults, keep back your servant also from presumptuous uh sins.

Let them not have dominion over me.

Then I shall be blameless and innocent of great transgression.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

You see, David's known the despair of being estranged and wandering deceptive paths of empty desire.

He knows that all too well.

He knows the feeling of a soul that feels dead.

But he's also known the sweetness of life, the inspiration of beauty, the splendor of glory, the excitement of joy from a life of chasing down the divine on the road of his revelation.

And he never wants to go back.

You see, we need that grace.

We need the prayer of honest self-assessment in our life.

If we can't be honest with ourselves, then what are we doing?

If we can't be honest with ourselves, we can't be honest in the community God's called us into.

That even though we're a people who wander down these empty pathways, joy himself has come to pursue us.

You see, through Jesus, the eternal son, we know God and we have joy.

This is the mystery of the gospel.

That though we refuse and fail to pursue him, he pursues us.

To bring us into the fullness of joy through himself.

You see, Jesus came to chase us down and to carry us along the road that leads us back to God.

It is the way of himself.

Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life, he being the exact imprint of the image of the invisible, that if we have known him, we have known the Father also.

He himself is the fulfillment of God's revelation, his divine self disclosure that we would know God and have eternal joy in him.

You see, without Christ chasing us down in this beautiful pursuit, we would constantly be wandering.

Of empty joy.

And he tried to help his disciples see this.

Just before his crucifixion, as they were in that upper room, he was teaching them about abiding in him, about what this means, that he's there with them, that he has called them unto himself, that he is ransoming them through his finished work.

And he says this in John 15, 11: These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

You see, Jesus is our ultimate good.

He is the ultimate revelation of God, who by his grace has made the Father known to us so that we can have joy.

Look at Matthew 11, 27, Jesus speaking to his disciples.

All these things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and to anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

It is Jesus revealing the Father to us that we might know him and know him rightly.

The word of his revelation has come near to us through Jesus his son.

It hasn't just remained on parchment and ink, it has had breath and a heartbeat, and it came to pursue us and chase us down.

By this, we can have joy.

The work of Christ in his death and resurrection, the word of Christ proclaiming the kingdom, the finished work of Christ, that we might know him and be known by him.

If we want to know God's goodness to us, if we want to see his kindness to us, if we want to know his heart's desire to have us know him, then just let us look to Jesus.

The eternal son.

We can have eternal joy because he himself is eternal.

And as we're excited unto joy, beholding the work and word through Christ's finished work, man, our souls can be satisfied.

I love how John Piper put this descriptor of joy into words.

He said, Joy is a good feeling in the soul produced by the Holy Spirit as he causes us to see the beauty of Christ in his word and in his work.

A good feeling in the soul.

Joy.

You see, it's because of the gospel alone that we can rightly know God in his word and work through Jesus.

And so because we have been given this grace, church, let us pursue with all of our life to know him.

That's my prayer for us, sacred mission, that we would pursue joy through knowing Him.

I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted from trying to chase down and pursue joy and things that end up just being empty promises.

I'm frustrated having a treasure that exceeds man's heart's desire six inches from me, and not picking it up to read it and to meditate on it and to allow it to fill me that I might have joy in him.

I want to pursue him because true joy is found in knowing God Himself.

You see, he's revealed himself to us in these three ways through his works in nature, through his word in scripture, and supremely in fulfillment through his son's Jesus' work and word.

So this revelation becomes our pathway to joy.

And Jesus is both the destination and the means of travel.

As Jesus told his disciples after his resurrection, helping them understand this truth.

In Luke 24, 44 through 47, he said this.

Then he said to them, These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.

Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and said to them, Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

So here's what Jesus is doing.

Moses writing of him, the prophets writing of him, all of the law pointing to him.

Because he is the road that leads us back to God.

As we have been cast out of Eden because of our own sinfulness, God made a way through Christ his Son that we would come back.

And so we've been given the path to joy.

That path to joy, discovering Jesus on every page of Scripture.

And may we pursue knowing him through this generous gift of grace.

May we run eagerly down the road that he has paved to lead us back to himself.

My prayer for us, sacred mission, is that we would stop wandering down these paths of empty joy.

And from what God has given us in this his own self disclosure, that we would pursue knowing him.

Let's pray.