Psalm 145 "Glory Across the Generations"

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We talked last Sunday about Psalm 96, about the incomparable greatness of God,

that He's worthy of all praise.

And so everything that we are, everything that we have,

should be in service of His name being made great,

of His glory being made known here and everywhere else.

That that must be our driving passion as individuals and as a church.

God's glory declared in Huntsville and beyond among the nations, right?

Right?

I've stayed in the Psalms a lot this week,

just reading more about the glory of God, the praise that's due to Him.

I don't want us to lose the grandeur of His greatness or His glory

and the significance that that ought to have for our lives,

because that goes away so quickly and easily, doesn't it?

If you feel that your heart needs some help here too,

I'd highly recommend the Psalms.

It's a great place to camp out, to marinate for a little while,

maybe just this Thanksgiving week or the rest of this year,

to help our hearts get that vision for God's greatness and what it means for us.

So this morning I want us to look at Psalm 145.

Look for a couple of things as I read it in just a minute.

First, the basic message is this.

It's pretty similar to last week.

The basic message of the Psalm is God is great everywhere

and we will declare how everywhere, how He is great.

Look for that exhaustive, superlative language,

the all and every and so on that you'll see throughout this Psalm.

And then the second thing, in the midst of all of that,

look for one particular way that God has designed for His glory to be declared everywhere.

As I've read this week, I've seen it over and over and over this particular way.

You'll notice it in verses 4 through 7 as we read

and we're going to focus our attention there.

You know, last week I really didn't give you any particulars

on how it would shape our lives,

how they'd be different if we were going to be about the glory of God here and everywhere.

I mean, except maybe go to India.

But you're not all going to India, at least not today.

Well, this is one particular.

We're going to talk, spend the rest of our lives

figuring out what those particular ways are.

We'll spend especially the next several months here

talking about what that means for us together here at Southwood

specifically to have our lives shaped around that.

But here's one way this morning,

highlighted by Psalm 145,

where we can shape our lives around God's glory.

Look for that way and notice how it connects to God's incomparable greatness.

Psalm 145, verse 1.

Psalms 145:1

I will extol you, my God and King,

and bless your name forever and ever.

Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever.

Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised,

and His greatness is unsearchable.

One generation shall commend your works to another

and shall declare your mighty acts.

On the glorious splendor of your majesty

and on your wondrous works I will meditate.

They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds

and I will declare your greatness.

They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness

and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

The Lord is gracious and merciful,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

The Lord is good to all

and His mercy is over all that He has made.

All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord,

and all your saints shall bless you.

They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom

and tell of your power

to make known to the children of man

your mighty deeds

and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom

and your dominion endures throughout all generations.

The Lord upholds all who are falling

and raises up all who are bowed down.

The eyes of all look to you

and you give them their food in due season.

You open your hand,

you satisfy the desire of every living thing.

The Lord is righteous in all His ways

and kind in all His works.

The Lord is near to all who call on Him,

to all who call on Him in truth.

He fulfills the desire of those who fear Him.

He also hears their cry and saves them.

The Lord preserves all who love Him,

but the wicked He will destroy.

My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord

and let all flesh bless His holy name

forever and ever.

Back to verse 4.

One generation shall commend your works to another

and shall declare your mighty acts.

On the glorious splendor of your majesty

and on your wondrous works I will meditate.

They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds

and I will declare your greatness.

They shall pour forth the fame

of your abundant goodness

and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

Let's pray and we'll look at this psalm together.

Father, we have acknowledged your greatness.

Might we know it more?

Might we experience it more?

And might you by your Spirit come

and do what needs to be done in our hearts

for that to impact us as it ought.

Change us, we pray by your Spirit.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Shortly after Christi and I got married,

we spent four months together in Scotland

while I was finishing up undergrad work.

We stayed while we were there in Glasgow

with a pastor and his wife.

And so because we were there with them,

we went to church with them.

They had a car, we didn't.

Every time the doors were open,

we were there,

Govan Hill Free Church of Scotland.

When we became a part of that church

as 24-year-old and 22-year-old,

the average age of that congregation

dropped drastically.

Almost all the members of that 25- or 30-person church

were over the age of 70.

Many of them older than that.

And we were there three, four times a week

for four months.

We didn't know when we got there,

but this congregation was going to be

such a huge blessing to us

through our time there

and also have a huge impact on us,

on what church meant to us

even before we went to seminary

to prepare for ministry in the church.

You see, this traditional Scottish church

found themselves in the midst of a community

that became almost overnight

mostly Muslim immigrants,

refugees, what they called

asylum seekers in Scotland.

So an older, traditional Scottish church

in an even older

and more traditional Scottish church building

that had been there for a long time

all of a sudden finds itself

in a new world

surrounded by different people.

And I think many such congregations

in that situation

would have turned inward.

They would have cared for each other

and in a few years died off.

I would have understood if they had.

But instead, the folks at Govan Hill

determined that they would share

the good news of Jesus

with their new neighbors.

They began hosting ESL classes

for the community,

working with those asylum seekers

on their many legal issues before them,

having some multicultural,

multilingual worship services

in their very traditional building.

Their heart was to see God's glory

declared everywhere

and to every nation.

And having some different people around them

wasn't going to dampen their passion

for that one bit.

They refused to back down from that.

In fact, they found that as they did that,

their passion for Christ and His kingdom

was inflamed by the youthful zeal

of young Muslim moms and toddlers

who came every week

to meet with their much older

Presbyterian playmates

at a moms and toddlers group.

It gave them energy and zeal

for the kingdom.

Their church didn't always feel

the same way that it used to,

say, 30 years before.

But they fervently followed

the mission of Jesus

no matter the cost.

And they found that that cost

and those changes

were well worth the sacrifice for them.

There are many things to consider

about the community

in which God has placed Southwood.

The people who live in our neighborhoods,

the people that we work with

and play with

and share life with.

But this morning,

I want to consider

one particular aspect of it

that was true for them

in that church.

And that is different generations,

young and old,

together in one family.

It's one of my very favorite things

about Southwood

since we came here 10 years ago.

And it's one of our greatest

kingdom opportunities

when we talk about

seeing God's glory

declared everywhere.

Having a mixture of generations

together in one family,

genuinely loving each other.

I loved being in a small group

for years here

with people two

and even three times my age.

I love how many of you

have been asking me

in the last couple of weeks

about Jenny Doss.

How is she?

Where is she?

She's always here.

How come I don't see her?

Because she's too weak

to come to worship

the last several weeks.

I loved talking with Ivy Barber

last week on the phone.

Ivy, as you know,

is 91 years young

and for most of those 91 years

has come to church every Sunday.

But now it's difficult

for her to walk very far

and so she hasn't been coming

for a while

and she said,

I so miss being there

and you know what I especially miss?

What does she miss the most,

do you think?

She didn't mention my preaching.

I'm sure it was coming.

It was granted, I think.

She mentioned the children

even though,

and I think perhaps

a little bit because,

they run all around her

while she's trying

to walk down the hall.

This morning,

our group of new members,

like many such groups

we've had here

spanned 60 years.

Three distinct generations.

What an exciting thing.

What a neat opportunity

to have these groups together.

Southwood,

this is one place

where God has clearly called us

to declare his glory

among the nations, yes,

and across the generations.

We have a privilege

and an opportunity

that many don't have.

It's one of the things

that's been so exciting

about getting Derek Harris

here on staff

and installing him this morning.

See, Derek is here

for the oldest

and for the youngest among us.

He's our shepherding pastor

and so he will be caring for

and ministering

to our oldest members.

He's also our pastor

for young families

and so he's going to be working

with the youngest among us

and especially with their parents

equipping them

for how to shepherd

their children

and their families

as they grow.

See, that's what Psalm 145

lays out

for the pattern

for God's glory

to spread everywhere.

It's verse 4.

One generation

shall commend your works

to another.

Remember the context

of the whole psalm.

What's the whole psalm saying?

God is great everywhere

and we will declare

how everywhere.

In what ways is he great?

We will say not merely

that God is great

but what his greatness looks like.

Verse 8, for example.

The Lord is gracious

and merciful,

slow to anger,

abounding in steadfast love.

If you keep reading,

you see his power,

his mighty deeds,

his glorious splendor,

his everlasting kingdom.

The way he lifts up

the weak and downtrodden,

verse 14.

The way he cares

for every living thing,

verse 16.

The way he responds

to those who cry,

verse 19.

Just stop and marvel

for a minute.

How incredible is this God?

How great is Yahweh?

Not just that he's mighty

and powerful

and dwells above

and is different from us,

but then he's also caring,

entering in,

drawing near the same God

like this.

Isn't he great?

There's no one like him.

How have you seen his grace,

mercy,

abundant love,

tender care,

mighty deeds

in your life?

You have unique stories,

don't you?

You can tell stories

of how God is great,

yes.

Others need to hear

those stories.

See, it's in the context

of saying how great God is

that David writes,

one generation shall commend

your works to another.

They're not just for you.

The things you've experienced

aren't just for you

to know how great God is.

They're for you to tell others,

even other generations,

how else will they know

what our God has been like

for thousands and thousands

of years,

generation after generation.

So notice how it works

for us.

It begins first

with our meditating

on his wondrous works,

the glorious splendor

of his majesty

there in verse 5.

In other words,

we all need to be

experiencing his grace

for ourselves.

Learning more,

even the most mature

among us,

learning of how God's greatness

impacts us,

soaking in that,

getting to know more and more

what he's like

and how he works

in our lives.

That's where it starts,

isn't it?

We meditate on that,

we learn more of that

and then we get to

verses 6 and 7.

Speaking,

declaring,

pouring forth,

singing aloud.

That's how God

designs his family

to work, right?

One generation

learns to praise him,

continues to experience

more of his greatness

and then as they worship,

they commend him

to the next generations.

Isn't that how it works

in our families?

Don't our kids

often begin to praise

what we praise?

I remember growing up

watching my grandfather

cheer for the Atlanta Braves.

He loved the Braves,

he lived in Atlanta.

I didn't, though.

I lived in Memphis

and I really had no reason

to like the Braves.

All they'd done was lose

my entire childhood.

Year after year.

But nonetheless,

despite never seeing them win,

I cheered for the Braves.

Why?

Because my grandfather

thought they were great

and so I thought

they were great.

We cheered together.

Our girls have never

experienced in person

the wonderful reality

of the Clemson football team

running down the hill

before the game.

But if you watched them

watching it on television,

you'd think they'd been

there before.

The way they get excited,

the way they cheer.

They have no fond memories

of campus that that

brings to mind.

No great experiences

to look back upon,

but they've seen their

parents cheer

and they get excited

as well.

God has designed

His family

to work that way too.

It's one of the reasons

we're so glad

to have our kids

regularly in these

worship services

with us

because even when

you don't realize it,

they're learning something.

They're learning

who is worthy

of praise,

who's worth

worshiping

and shaping

our lives

around.

And they need

to hear

from the experiences

of their spiritual parents

and grandparents

how God is great,

how He has been faithful,

how He's been merciful

in your life.

It's the thing

I've noticed this week

reading in the Psalms.

It's one of the primary ways

God has designed

for His glory

to be declared

here and everywhere.

We've already read

Psalm 145.

I'm not going to

laundry list all the

Psalms for you

this morning.

You can look up

a bunch of them.

But look also in places

like Deuteronomy 6

that we read earlier.

Titus 2.

And you'll see

how Old Testament,

New Testament,

wherever it is,

God designs this pattern

for His family.

And maybe that's why

little children

and elderly saints

are consistently highlighted

as valuable to Jesus

and significant

in His church.

We need each other,

don't we?

It's the way

He's designed it.

I guess that means

Derek has a pretty

significant role

here on our pastoral team.

And he's going to

stand up before us

and be charged

to that role

in a few minutes.

But more importantly,

see that's not just

Derek's job,

that's our job

as a family

to relate that way.

Each of us

has a significant role

in that.

And I didn't want

any of us

to miss out

on the chance

to stand up,

hear from God's Word

and be charged

this morning.

So this is going to be fun,

isn't it?

Oh boy,

y'all are excited.

You've always wanted

to stand up

and get charged

during the sermon.

Here goes.

Three groups.

First group,

if you were born

before 1960,

would you please

stand up

and remain standing

for a minute

if you're able?

You notice that

I have no idea

how old you are.

I'm going by

when you were born.

Age is,

I have no idea

what the age is.

Born before 1960.

Awesome.

We're so glad

that y'all are here

at Southwood.

We're really thankful

to have you here.

I know sometimes

the way we young people

dress or sing

or parent

seems strange

and different to you.

I know there are

many places you could go

where everyone is your age.

I'm aware of that.

But we need you here.

We do.

And I want to charge you

to do more

than just be here.

You're here.

Thank you.

Wonderful.

I want to charge you

to something more

than just being present.

Listen to Psalm 71.

what it has to say.

Oh God,

from my youth

you have taught me

and I still proclaim

your wondrous deeds.

So even to old age

and gray hairs,

oh God,

do not forsake me

until I proclaim

your might

to another generation.

Your power

to all those

to come.

I think this is why

God has you here.

There may be other reasons.

But I think this is

an important part of it.

It would be easy for you

as long as you have served

to say,

I've done my time.

It's time to retire

from church.

I've been teaching

a long time.

I've been in the nursery.

I've been in a lot of places.

It would be easy

as it would have been

for our friends

in Scotland

to see all these

different people around you

and just turn inward

and just care about yourself.

Would you make this

your prayer?

The end of that?

That every day

that God would give you strength,

it wouldn't be just to get by

or just to show up,

but to proclaim His might

to the next generations?

You do that for us a lot.

I'm charging you

to something I know you love.

I know it's why you're here.

Please pray for that.

Think of someone right now

that needs to hear

about this great God from you.

You can pick me

if you can't think of anybody else.

If you don't know where to start,

I've actually got

a specific opportunity.

We need your help.

You can help with the youth,

children's ministry,

but we really need your help

in the nursery right now.

If you look at the front

of your bulletin

towards the bottom

of the announcements,

it says cross-generational opportunities.

And there's an opportunity there,

an email address

that you can send and say,

I want to take a turn

in the nursery rotation.

And one of the beautiful things

about that is you can not only

talk to the kids,

but as a parent,

I can tell you

when I walk down

to pick up my child

and you're rocking them

in the chair,

I want to talk to you

because I see how you love my child.

So there's a great place

if you don't have

another place to start.

But would you think

of some way

during the next few weeks

during this holiday season

that you could do that?

We would love that.

Thank you.

You may be seated.

If you are under the age of 13

or live with someone

under the age of 13

in your home,

would you please stand

and remain standing

for just a minute?

Under the age of 13

or live with someone

under the age of 13

in your home?

I knew you were there.

There you go.

Isn't that exciting?

Those of you

who were just standing up

a minute ago,

isn't this exciting?

I know it's part

of why you're here.

There are a lot of y'all.

Listen to Psalm 78

for a second.

We will not hide

these things about God

from their children,

but tell to the coming generation

the glorious deeds

of the Lord

and His might

and the wonders

that He has done.

He established

a testimony in Jacob

and appointed a law

in Israel

which He commanded

our fathers

to teach their children

that the next generation

might know them,

the children yet unborn.

Some of those out there,

I know there are.

You're keeping it secret.

And arise

and tell them

to their children

so that they should

set their hope

in God.

What's it going to take

for us to have

our hope

in God?

Well,

one of the things

is that we

have to listen

to the ones

who were standing up

before you.

It's the way God says

He's designed it to be

that they would

teach us

of who God is

and of His glorious deeds.

Proverbs says

wisdom is with the aged

and we in our pride

forget that too often,

don't we?

We think we're okay

without our parents' help,

without our grandparents' wisdom

and that can happen

in the church too.

I charge each of you

to find someone older

to listen to

and love

during the holidays.

It could be someone

in your own family.

Those are neat opportunities.

But I'd especially

encourage you

to think of someone

in this family.

The deacons would love

to help connect you

with one of our widows

or older couples

in the church

and they would love

to be with you

and to share with you

during this holiday season

that same place

in the bulletin.

There's an email address

for you

so you can sign up

right now

during the rest of the service

or this week.

Love for you

to be a part of that.

Thank you.

Please be seated.

Now if you are surrounding

those first two groups

age-wise

and you haven't stood yet,

anyone who hasn't stood yet,

will you stand now

and remain standing

for a minute?

Awesome.

I knew the range

we were going to have

in this group.

That's so fun.

You may get the most exciting

and most challenging charge yet.

Listen to Psalm 89,

just the first verse.

I will sing

of the steadfast love

of the Lord forever.

With my mouth

I will make known

your faithfulness

to all generations.

You get the chance

to look in both directions

from where you sit.

There are people ahead of you

in this family

and people behind you

in this family.

Both of whom

you're charged

to tell with your mouth

the glory of God

and of His faithfulness

to all generations.

You get to go

in both directions.

You can pick one

to start with

or you can do both.

In fact,

you can sign up

for both of those

email opportunities

if you'd like

and I know you don't have

anything to do

in the next few weeks

so go ahead

and do them both.

Look around you

in your church family

and think

about the people

in this family

and in this community

that God has called you to.

you're in stages of life

where it's really easy

to think that it's all about you.

I'm in college.

I'm an empty nester

and I've poured in

and now life is about me

and I'm here to remind you

that it's not.

That it's about God.

It's about His kingdom

and you get to be a part of that

and it's so much more exciting

than everything

just being about you.

So look up,

look down

and find someone

that you can connect with

during this season

to tell God's glory

and shape your life

around declaring that

not declaring yourself.

Thank you.

Please be seated.

See,

that being about that

is really the heart of this

for all of us.

Right?

There's really one story

that we all

get to declare.

Even in the Psalms

you'll notice that story

is about God's glorious

and gracious deliverance.

The story of glory

and grace

that we talk about

every week here.

Our glorious God

made us to share

in His glory with Him

but we turned away from Him.

And our gracious God

ran after us

faster than we could

run away from Him

especially in sending

His Son,

Jesus Christ,

in whom we see

the glory

and the grace

of God

most fully.

The one who lives

perfectly.

The one who dies

sacrificially

to deliver us.

And so we come

and we revel

in that story

young and old

all of us

and then we get

to tell that

one story

of one glorious God

one gracious Savior

to every nation

and every generation.

my mouth will speak

the praise

of the Lord

and let all flesh

bless His holy name

forever

and ever.

Amen

and Amen.

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at southwood.org