Sermon(Ps 33): The blessing of God's people

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025256253

 

 

>> 1 Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright. .... 5 He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord. .... 8 Let all the earth fear the Lord, let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! ... 10 The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nought; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. 11 The counsel of the Lord stands for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. 12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage! .... 18 Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, 19 that he may deliver their soul from death, and keep them alive in famine. 20 Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and shield. .... (Ps 33) <<

 

According to the words of the Bible today, I seem to be one of the upright (or the honest). "Praise befits the upright (or the honest, in Korean version). (v. 1)" I myself have praised God with three songs a day since long ago. It was my great blessing that I learned how to play the guitar. As David praised God with a stringed instrument and rejoiced in God, so I sing songs of praise of God to the sound of a guitar and rejoice in him every day. Sometimes I sing to the Lord with a sense of duty for I decided to sing three songs to God without skipping every day; nevertheless I think even the obligatory praises are not meaningless. Paradoxically, you may sing gospel songs instead of popular songs to satisfy yourself when you're in a good mood. I'm saying that also obligatory songs of praise in your bad mood themselves have their justification and value. Of course, it pleases God most if you sing to him with joy and trust.

 

I decided to sing three songs of praise to God every day because I realized something. One day I realized that God knew and remembered every atom of my body. I realized that I could not exist if God didn't remember every atom of my body or was not thinking of it. God knew all about me so and remembered me, therefore I thought it was a conscientious deed that I should remember and think of God when singing three songs of praise to God a day. So I sing three songs to God a day. Another reason I praise God every day is my understanding that only humans can praise God. Cows and pigs can't praise God or give thanks to God due to the structure of their mouth and their intelligence. So they are meat for humans. Humans are created to be ones who eat all the other creatures God created. All plants and animals are swallowed down into human stomachs. God gave all other creatures to humans for food, and gave also them (humans) a good mouth and a sufficient intelligence so that they, as the representative of all creatures, can give thanks to God who is the life-giving Lord of all living creatures. Cows and pigs eat their food to their satisfaction and live to their years. They must thank God who gave them food, but they have no ability to do that. Instead, they offer their flesh to humans as food when they die. 'Humans, Humans, we'll never complain to you for the pain we will suffer when dying, if only you give thanks to God on behalf of us.' Humans give thanks to God on behalf of them for all God's grace that came upon them (the animals), after they eat them. I realized that humans have the duty to express thanks to God who gave life to all creatures, as the representative of all creatures. When I realized this, I made up my mind to give praises to God even obligatorily, whether I am happy or not. Furthermore I thought humans might have been food for monkeys if the mouth and the intelligence that are needed to praise God had not been given to humans but to monkeys. If a creature is a being that will die without giving thanks to God, it's duty would be to be food for other creature that is able to thank God. Another reason why I sing praises to God every day is that I know how worthy and high the God is. Isn't it infinite glory and wonder to me that such a high and noble One accepts my tributes of praise with pleasure? If he accepted my tribute, he acknowledged my existence and knew me personally, didn't he? It would be an extraordinary glory to me if a king or a president knows me personally. Much more when the God knows me personally! Another reason why I sing praises to God every day is God's great love for humans. God forbade human sacrifices, that is, the offering up of human body to God. However, he made his only begotten Son Jesus Christ the redemptive sacrifice for human beings. He forbade humans to eat the blood of animals, yet he advises them to drink the blood of his Son. Of course, this means that we must believe in the blood that bled from Jesus on the cross, and gain the eternal life. God forbids humans to make and worship idols representing the God. Nevertheless he declares that humans are created in his image. Once upon a time, the Roman emperor idolized himself and made statues representing himself, which he ordered people to worship. No one could live after he profaned the statues of the emperor. But God declares that we are his images. And Jesus said the same. "What you've done to the humble is done to me (Jesus)." If we realize that the God has over-loved and over-exalted us humans, or us sinners, it would be the worst ingratitude and the worst sin in the world for us not to give thanks to him and not to praise him. Today the writer of the Psalm 33 affirms that praise 'befits' the 'upright', or that an 'honest' man 'should' praise God. Just as we can't cover the sky with our hands, so we can't cover the glorious, merciful, loving, and benevolent God with all our excuses.

 

I did my best to praise God with three songs a day, and there was a response from God. Sometimes with songs of praise that I know, sometimes with songs of praise I do not know, even with those I've never known or heard, God let me know his will in my dreams. It happened not just once or twice. The words of the songs I heard in my dreams were the accurate answers to my prayers and the predictions concerning me. Sometimes a song was sung in chorus. This means that the song had the content and melody I've never known, and was sung while I was not expecting it at all. Is this just my psychological activity? This is 100% by the intervention of a personal God. Who talks wild that there is no God? He utters ignorant and wicked words because he has never met God. Abraham politely received some passersby into his house, not knowing that one of them was the God. And he found that God himself visited him. God comes to us like a passing wind while we are not noticing it, but gives us clear words then. Sometimes he gave a full sentence, but sometimes just a few words. You have to learn how to receive God's words directly. Of course, you may hear words that momentarily pass by, while you are expecting God's words. We can't murmur because of just few words, that is, an incomplete sentence, with which God says to us. We creatures are not in a position to hear a complete sentence from God. God can say to us with one or two words. Even one or two words of God are too awesome for us. To my amazement indeed, sometimes God says in English or in German a complete sentence with the content I've never read or heard. When it comes to my German, I can just read Karl Barth's works so slowly, but do not have speaking or listening ability. God knew that ability of mine, so he said to me in German a sentence of three words! I met the sentence for the first time, and it was exactly what I needed. God spoke to me in English or German to let me know that the sentence appearing on my heart was not the outcome of my psychological activity but words God himself had spoken to me.

 

"Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage! (v. 12)" This means that the Israelites thought it to be their blessing that God had chosen them as his people from among the nations. "You are a people holy to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, out of all the peoples that are on the face of the earth. (Deut 7:6)" How miserable it is for other peoples to serve Buddha or Allah as their gods! How miserable it is for a country to have the Communism as its policy! Why is the country that has Jehovah as its God the blessed nation? It is because Jehovah abolishes the plans of other nations, and only his will stands forever (v. 10, 11). God protects his people when other nations invade them. However many soldiers, horses and weapons the enemies of Israel have, their plans can't stand (v. 16, 17), but absolutely only God's plan and will will stand. Jehovah is his people's help and shield (v. 20), and delivers them from death and famine (v. 19). The difference between the blessing of God's people and that of the other peoples is infinite as the difference between God and angels or between God and Devil is infinite.

 

God is kind to his people. "The earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord. (v. 5)" "The eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love. (v. 18)" "Let thy steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in thee. (v. 22)" God's steadfast love refers to his goodness and mercy. God shows abundant grace to his people. However, he still loves justice and righteousness (v. 5). So he does not pamper his people in his great love for them, only saying yes, nor does he allow them to live as they like. God wants his people to be a good religious model for other nations. So he wants them to be righteous. So sometimes he disciplines them. However he never deserts his people forever, but is kind to them again after the discipline. He keeps his people like the apple of his eye. Why does God pardon us and never desert us thoroughly? It is because he first loved and chose us. Had we first chosen him, he might have rejected us when we committed sins. But the sincere God first chose us and made us his people; so he never deserts us forever even when we commit sins, and after the discipline he forgives us and grants us his mercy and goodness. He will keep us to himself to the end despite our sins and faults because he has chosen us. "..., even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. (Eph 1:4-6)" “In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins. (1 Jn 4:10)” You are the children of God. Please be happy and have peace. God has a duty to love and protect us and to be kind to us. He is our legal Father. No greater blessing than this in the world!

 

How should we deal with him for he is so kind to us? If he is so kind to us, we must fear him (v. 18). (That is, we must love him in awe. Or we have a reverential fear for him.) God loves us, so he puts forth his kindness toward us, concealing his fearful power behind him. My brethren, if we love God, we must put forth our attitude of reverence for him and prioritize the worship of him. The privilege and joy of us as the children of God may follow the feeling of reverence.

 

Today's texts says that the righteous should rejoice in the Lord and praise him (v. 1). My brethren, do not sing praises to the Lord with sinful and dirty heart and hands. First repent your sins, then as a righteous man praise God. There are lots of useless things in the world, the worst of which is hypocritical religious acts and the prayer and praise of the unrighteous. They are harmful as well as worthless. The unrighteous must give the prayer of repentance and the praise of forgiveness of sins to God. When our sins are washed away and our life is true and righteous, our praises make God delightful and make us precious, because the purpose of our existence is to praise God. When we, as the righteous, praise God, the holy heavenly blessings and the fruitful worldly blessings come upon us from God

 

May God receive your songs of praise gladly, and bless you abundantly. Today, the enormous mercy and grace of Jesus Christ our Savior be with you.

 

Chong Tack Kim

- Dongtoma Sunshine Church -