Psalm 47

Well, good morning everyone, and welcome again to this live stream.

It's good to be with you this morning as we continue in our summer series in the Psalms.

It's something that we started a few years back, just starting at Psalm 1 and working our way through during those summer weeks in the book of Psalms, that book that gives us uh voice and lyrics to our faith, voice to our uh emotions as we cry out to God both in sorrow and in gladness.

And so it's uh it's great to be spending these uh summer weeks uh with you in the Psalms.

Uh, we are in Psalm 48.

Uh, can I invite you to have that open in front of you, either on your phone or uh with a Bible?

And let me pray for us.

Our Father, we do ask uh that you would thrill our hearts this morning, that you would stir our affections for you, for your people, that we would uh see the goodness of what you are doing in the world and long to be part of it.

Uh, help us this morning, give us understanding, we pray, in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Uh, one of the things that uh this season has brought home to us is uh the need for connection, uh, perhaps because of the absence of it.

Uh, we've been cut off from one another.

It's just a few short weeks until we're able to meet together uh in person again, Lord willing.

But we have felt the disconnect.

We've not been able to see one another, not been able to see our family members, hug people that we love.

Some of you perhaps have realized that uh that your life outside of lockdown has been starved of meaningful connection, and you've actually enjoyed the chance to slow down and log on to these live streams to join us in our prayer meetings and community group gatherings, perhaps on a more regular basis.

But many, I'm sure, have felt isolated, isolated from the family of faith, and I get that.

I I let you into a secret Virch Church is not the same, it's just not.

This is not the same.

Standing here with my laptop on my ironing board, looking at a green light, it's not the same as when we're all together lifting our voices and praying together.

Excuse me, praying together, praising together, sitting under God's word together.

Something as simple as being able to see you all as I open up God's word.

What a privilege that is uh that I had forgotten.

First church is not the same.

Some struggle with the idea of seeing the goodness of faith community.

It's certain that certainly people outside of uh the church don't see the church as a good thing.

People who don't believe in Jesus tend to see us and what we do, what even what we're doing here is a meaningless enterprise, a waste of time.

Or even worse, that it's something that is corrupt and manipulative.

And when it comes to our view of the church, we're not immune to that sort of thinking, are we?

There are plenty of Christians who profess faith in Jesus and who have very little time for the church, who don't really love the church, who have struggled to ever really get involved in a church.

They might say that they've attended churches in the past, but they've never been part of a church.

Many Christians see the gathering of believers as a as a nice augment to their discipleship.

A good addition if you had time for it, and if you can uh if you can make make it along to to service.

But in terms of deep yearning to be back together, deep desire to be with brothers and sisters, that's just not there.

In fact, maybe people struggle to see fellow Christians as brothers and sisters at all.

You don't feel all that close to them.

Psalm 48 is at its core a celebration of the gathered people of God.

It's a celebration of what it's like to come together, to be a body, a community of faith.

Listen to how it opens.

Have a look at the first three verses.

Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of God, of our God, his holy mountain, beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth.

Mount Zion in the far north, the city of the great king, within her citizen citadels, God has made himself known as a fortress.

The psalmist is celebrating the city of God, the city in which God dwells.

And in the Old Testament, the gathered people of God were in a city.

They were a nation, the nation of Israel, and the the epicenter of that was Jerusalem, and the particular central focus of worship and of joy and of gladness was Mount Zion, the place where the temple was, where God had particularly decided to dwell.

Now, where we stand, things are slightly different.

We don't go to a city, we don't go to a particular nation, and we don't go to a particular building, a particular temple.

No, Jesus is our temple.

He is the place of worship.

He is the one to whom we go in order to worship God, the one around whom we gather as we worship God.

See, the people of God in the New Testament don't go to a city, don't go to a temple.

No, we are the gathered people of God.

We are the church.

The people of God from all tribes and tongues and languages united to Jesus, indwelt by his spirit.

And that church, that gathering, is universal.

It stretches across time zones and continents.

But it is given particular expression in local gatherings.

That is, in the local church.

The local church is primarily what is in focus in the New Testament.

To be part of the church, to be a Christian, is to be part of a local expression of that, to be part of a local church, to be gathered with the people of God in a particular place at a particular time, worshiping God, sitting under his word, administering and receiving the sacraments of the Lord's Supper and baptism, loving and caring for one another, shouldering one another's burdens.

And so we don't celebrate a city here.

We celebrate the church.

That is where God dwells, in the midst of his people.

Of course, people will say, Yeah, but can I worship God?

Can I worship God anywhere?

Isn't God everywhere?

Well, yes, he is, and you can, in a sense, and you could certainly in the Old Testament.

He was everywhere then, but he chose to make his presence known particularly in Jerusalem in Mount Zion.

Yes, he was everywhere, and he chose to dwell in the midst of his people.

And so now God, yes, is everywhere, but he is particularly present in the midst of his people.

And I would say when we gather together on Sundays, when we'll gather together in a couple of weeks' time, he is particularly present then in a way that he's uh he's not when we're scattered.

And that is a good and glorious thing to be celebrated.

The psalmist celebrates here the city, the gathered people of God.

He describes it as beautiful verse two and a joy the joy of all the earth verse two.

Perhaps when you think of the church you struggle to see its beauty You struggle to see it as the as the joy of all the earth certainly wicked people have marred its beauty and tarnished its reputation.

We mustn't diminish or belittle that.

And yet there is beauty to be seen here.

The psalmist says that there is beauty here, beauty in the gathered people of God, beauty in the church.

And so, if you struggle to see the goodness of gathering with brothers and sisters, if you struggle to see the goodness of the gathered body, the gathered people of God, the church, if you struggle to see that that is a joy in all the earth, the joy of all the earth, then I would encourage you to listen on.

As I show you from this psalm just said a few things that are particularly glorious about what God is doing and gathering people around him to himself.

The first thing that we want to note is that is that the people of God will endure forever.

Now we're going to read verses 48, but we're going to take particular note of verse 8.

Have a look at it with me.

For behold, the kings assembled, they came on, they came on together.

As soon as they saw it, that is the city, they were astounded.

They were in panic and took to flight.

Trembling took hold of them there, anguish as of a woman in labor, by the yeast wind you shattered the ships of Tarshish.

As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God, which God will establish for ever.

Selah.

We looked a couple of weeks ago at Psalm forty six, and the sudden nature of suffering, the shifting sands of our world, how organizations rise and organizations fall, and how God is our refuge.

And here Psalm forty-eight adds another layer to that.

God is our refuge, and he will cause the city of God, that is, the gathered people of God, to endure forever.

The church will endure into eternity.

Why?

Because it's God's church.

Because it's God's people.

He will preserve them to the end.

The church is first and foremost a God-made organism, as opposed to a man-made organization or institution.

God will establish her forever.

Verse 8.

Being part of the people of God, that is the church, is being part of something that will last into eternity.

It's being part of something that is much bigger than ourselves.

It is being part of something that is much bigger than our generation, that stretches back millennia, that if the Lord, if the Lord tarries, if the Lord waits, will stretch millennia into the future.

And we get to be part of that grand narrative, that big story of God's unfolding redemption, of gathering people from every tribe and tongue and nation and century to Himself.

That's what God is building, and it will endure forever.

There are things about our church that endure forever when we sing or when we say that the creed, what we believe.

We're standing shoulder to shoulder with brothers and sisters long since past.

Those on down the centuries who have who have lived and fought and died for the goodness of the Christian gospel and the goodness of the gathered people of God.

The nations in this psalm come up to the walls of that Old Testament city, up to the walls of Jerusalem, and are astounded by its strength.

I think there are a few national leaders who would look at the church today and fear how formidable it was.

And that's okay.

Because I think here in the Old Testament, in the Psalms, there's not always a straight line between you know it was like this then, so it's like this now.

Sometimes our understanding comes by way of contrast.

Your biblical characters, how do they how do they mirror and point to Jesus?

It might be that they're you know great kings and leaders like King David.

And Jesus is is is like that, but there are also ways in which Jesus is not like it.

This is a point of contrast.

And I think here in this Psalm, there's a point of contrast between the Old Testament and the New Testament.

The church doesn't we don't strike terror into uh into the nations, we don't put people to to flight.

We don't astound.

No, in the church we we woo.

We beckon in.

We don't astound so much as we seek to intrigue.

There will come a day when when God will uh will put the wicked to to flight and and justice and peace will will reign and we and we trust him for that.

There will be a day when the leaders of the world will tremble at the awesome power of the returning Lord Jesus.

But in the meantime, the the doors to our our city are open.

That all may come in and see the goodness of living under the the rule of good King Jesus.

In a sense, we are still to be the joy of the whole earth and to be the joy of the all of the whole earth.

How do we do that as the church?

We do that by showing that we are a different society, a different community, that we are a society that is not based on power, that is not based on exploitation, but a society that is founded on love and justice.

And I don't mean love in an airy fairy, that's what Christians are sort of you're supposed to say, sort of way.

I mean love in the in the most practical sense that we are to love people because they are image bearers of God, not because of their background or status or wealth or sexuality or any of those things.

We love them because God loves them and has made people in his image.

We love people even when it hurts.

We love when it's costly.

We love.

And because we love we serve.

Not because we want to get, but because it brings us joy to give.

That is what it is to be an alternate society.

That would be intriguing.

That would astound the communities around us in the right sort of way.

The church what God is building will endure forever.

Second, this church, this gathered people of God, has a purpose.

The gathered people of God have a purpose.

Verses 9 to 11, have a look at it with me.

We have thought on your steadfast love, O God, in the midst of your temple.

As your name, O God, so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth.

Your right hand is filled with righteousness.

Let Mount Zion be glad.

Let the daughters of Jerusalem rejoice because of your judgments.

The gathered people of God, that is the church, we do certain things.

We have a purpose, a mission.

Let me point out three things from these verses.

First, we learn God together.

How does verse nine start?

We have thought on your steadfast love.

We have thought on your steadfast love.

We are learning about you.

Now, what is uh what is God's steadfast love?

What does it mean to think on God's steadfast love?

Well, his steadfast love is his promise-keeping love, his never failing, never giving up commitment to you and all those who are trusting in Jesus.

It is his unwavering love and commitment to his people, that he will never leave or forsake them.

They're reflecting on that.

They're learning about that, and what a good thing that is to learn.

To learn that our God will never leave or forsake you, that he delights to forgive you, that he delights to show mercy, to lavish his grace upon you, and to think that he will always keep his promises.

To you.

Jesus ultimately is the embodiment of that steadfast love.

It is that love, that commitment to his people that drove him from heaven's throne to enter our world and to suffer in our place.

It is that love that drove him and caused him to say to people, to say to you and to me, give me your sin and take from me my righteousness, my perfections.

Give me your darkness and receive my light.

Give me your death and take from me my life.

As followers of Jesus, it is necessary that we learn who Jesus is, that we learn him together, that we learn what it means to follow him, what it means to worship him.

Verse 10, as your name, O God, so your praise reaches to the end of the earth.

You see, Israel was meant to display the character of God to the nations, to beckon the nations in, to evangelize the nations by how they lived and how they spoke about God, and they didn't live up to those promises.

They were never meant to keep God to themselves.

God has always had the nations in view.

God has always loved the nations.

God has always loved the peoples of this world, the peoples that we forget about.

God loves them.

Different people, different nations, different languages, different ethnicities, different cultures are all loved by God.

And the Psalmist has a view here of the name of God going out.

And as the name of God, that is, they learn his character, they learn his goodness, they learn his majesty, they learn what he has done for them in Jesus.

And as his name goes out and they receive that, so praise erupts.

Praise erupts at every corner of the earth.

The church is sent on that mission to see those eruptions of praise in every nation, in every place, in every street, in every neighborhood, and every corner.

We are to tell others about the goodness and compassion, the righteousness, the justice and majesty of our God.

We are to tell the wondrous story of what Jesus has done for people.

The church is not a static entity.

We need to keep moving.

We need to be a church that's on mission to our communities, to our city, and to our world.

And so who are you praying for?

Who are you praying for that doesn't know Jesus?

Who are you sharing your life with?

So that people might see that you live differently.

Who are you sharing Jesus with?

Who could you share Jesus with?

The church is on mission together.

And just as the nations praise, so we as a result of God's work praise him.

That's one of the things.

It's a third thing that the church does.

We learn God, we tell others about God, and we praise God.

Verse 11.

Let Mount Zion be glad.

That's us, Mount Zion, the gathered people of God.

Let us be glad.

Let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgments.

That is because he's righteous and good.

The culmination of all of our learning, the culmination of all of our theology has to be doxology, that is, praise.

If we simply learn God, and that doesn't lead us to a life of worship, to the life of praise, then our learning is in vain.

It is simply academic, it is simply self-serving, it is useless.

On the other hand, worship, praise, that is not informed by God, that is not informed by the scriptures, by a knowledge of who God is, that is equally vain.

At best, it is ill-informed, at worst, it is idolatrous.

Because you know what?

And here's the thing God gets to decide how he's worshipped.

You don't.

God sets the terms upon which he will be praised because that is his prerogative as God.

We don't get to worship him any way we like.

To do so is idolatry.

You see, idolatry isn't just worshiping false gods, it could be worshiping the true God in the wrong way.

Do you remember the story of Aaron's sons?

How they offered what the Bible calls strange fire.

That is, they worshiped the right God but in the wrong way.

And they were consumed.

No, our worship needs to be informed by what we learn.

Our emotional expression needs to rise out of awe and wonder at what we have received, what we have learnt about God.

Similarly, our mission drives us to worship.

Just as we you know, as we see those pockets of praise springing up, as we see people's lives turning to Jesus, what's our response?

Oh, great, good.

Well, take the box, move on to the next place.

No, it's that we should worship and praise.

We should be glad at what God is doing.

We should be glad that God uses us and God uses our failed words and faltering attempts.

We should be rejoicing that God has brought new life into the church, new people, that He's saved lost people.

Gladness and praise needs to define us as a community of faith.

Gladness and praise needs to define us.

We need, we must fight to be glad in God, because that in itself will have evangelistic force.

It adorns the gospel and it will reflect to the world what God has done for us.

And then finally, and finally, the psalmist invites you to take a survey and to survey the goodness of the city of God.

Look at verses 12 to 14.

Walk about Zion, go around her, number her towers, consider well her ramparts, go through her citadels, that you may tell the next generation that this is God, that's where God dwells.

Our God forever and ever.

He will guide us forever.

The psalmist is inviting you to take a survey of the city of God, that is, the gather people of God, and to see its goodness, so that you might go on and tell others, those next generations, that is, the lost people that need to come into the city, but also our children.

Isn't that so important to get that straight in our minds before many of us have children who grow up?

That we need to tell our children that church is a good and beautiful thing.

To show them the joy and the gladness of being part of the people of God, gathered in the city of God to pass that on.

So often children grow up, don't they?

And they become jaded and disillusioned and turned off by the church.

So let's take a survey, let's learn the goodness, the goodness of the church.

Certainly, there are good things to consider about the universal church that we should reflect upon and consider its diversity, its generosity, its compassion, its endurance and uh preservation on down the centuries.

But what would it mean to survey the walls of the local church?

The local gathering.

Why is that good?

Why is it good to gather locally with a body of believers on a on a Sunday through the week?

Why is the local church good?

Why should we love it?

Why should we cling to it as something that is precious?

Let me give you some reasons as to why we should love the church, why the church, the local church, is worthy of our love.

First, we should love a church that teaches the essentials of the gospel, that is, who God is, who we are, who Jesus is, what he has done, the reality of sin and the need for the cross, the truthfulness of the resurrection, the sure and certain hope of heaven, the reality of hell and judgment.

A church like that is a church that is worthy of your love.

Second, love a church where the leaders seek to expound God's word faithfully, week by week.

Where they don't cherry pick the pastor's favorite verses, the purple passages, but that there is a diet of the word that is broad and varied, where pastors don't shrink from the difficult passages, love a church that isn't all about you because the church ultimately is all about God.

The gospel ultimately is all about God and the world beholding his goodness and his glory.

And so it is good to set yourself in that context.

He is big and we are small.

Love a church, this is fourth.

Love a church that cares for one another.

Love a church that is there for one another, that's there not just for weddings and celebrations, but it's there for illness.

It's there for funerals.

It carries burdens as well as rejoices in good times.

Love a church that cares for one another.

Fifth, love a church that is serious about reaching the lost locally with evangelism, nationally, through church planting, and internationally through desiring to send people to the nations.

If a church is committed to reaching the lost, it is worth being part of, it is worth loving and committing yourself to love a church that's like a family.

Even if it's dysfunctional at times, as all good families are.

A church that is concerned for one another, spends time together, that invites you in.

Love a church that is generous.

Generous towards outsiders, and in response, be generous towards it.

Be a generous contributor to that local church.

Both in terms of your service and your giving.

There are so many reasons to love the church, to survey its walls and to see its its goodness.

See leaders that want to serve and shepherd the flock of God.

See people who want to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice.

See a family wanting to grow together.

See people who are uh who are selfless and generous with their time and with their money.

There are so many other things that we could go on to see, so many things, even just in that list that we as a church aspire to, should aspire to.

But the essence is this the gathered people of God, the church, the local church, is a beautiful and highly precious thing that should be prized by all of us.

It's so important to consider, isn't it, as we prepare to come out of lockdown?

How am I going to interact again with my brothers and sisters as I meet them face to face?

What's going to be my um interaction with the local church, with city church?

What's my place in it going to be?

Am I going to be simply at a church or part of a church?

Am I going to be at City Church, go along to services?

Or am I going to be part of the family of faith at City Church?

Are my brothers and sisters at City essential to my discipleship?

Or are they peripheral to it?