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January 16/17, 2016
Jason Meyer | Psalms 18:20-50
The LORD dealt with me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me.
For I have kept the ways of the LORD,
and have not wickedly departed from my God.
For all his rules were before me,
and his statutes I did not put away from me.
I was blameless before him,
and I kept myself from my guilt.
So the LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
With the merciful you show yourself merciful;
with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;
with the purified you show yourself pure;
and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.
For you save a humble people,
but the haughty eyes you bring down.
For it is you who light my lamp;
the LORD my God lightens my darkness.
For by you I can run against a troop,
and by my God I can leap over a wall.
This God—his way is perfect;
the word of the LORD proves true;
he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.
For who is God, but the LORD?
And who is a rock, except our God?—
the God who equipped me with strength
and made my way blameless.
He made my feet like the feet of a deer
and set me secure on the heights.
He trains my hands for war,
so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
You have given me the shield of your salvation,
and your right hand supported me,
and your gentleness made me great.
You gave a wide place for my steps under me,
and my feet did not slip.
I pursued my enemies and overtook them,
and did not turn back till they were consumed.
I thrust them through, so that they were not able to rise;
they fell under my feet.
For you equipped me with strength for the battle;
you made those who rise against me sink under me.
You made my enemies turn their backs to me,
and those who hated me I destroyed.
They cried for help, but there was none to save;
they cried to the LORD, but he did not answer them.
I beat them fine as dust before the wind;
I cast them out like the mire of the streets.
You delivered me from strife with the people;
you made me the head of the nations;
people whom I had not known served me.
As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me;
foreigners came cringing to me.
Foreigners lost heart
and came trembling out of their fortresses.
The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock,
and exalted be the God of my salvation—
the God who gave me vengeance
and subdued peoples under me,
who delivered me from my enemies;
yes, you exalted me above those who rose against me;
you rescued me from the man of violence.
For this I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations,
and sing to your name.
Great salvation he brings to his king,
and shows steadfast love to his anointed,
to David and his offspring forever.—Psalm 18:20–50
Introduction
I mentioned last week that Psalm 18/19 form a pair —the Son of God as King and the Word of God (the royal scepter he uses to rule the church). The next five psalms are kingship psalms (20–24). God’s providence seems to be shining over us again in obvious ways because we will come to Psalm 22 for Holy Week and Psalm 23 for Easter Sunday (walk through the valley of the shadow of death—dwell in the house of the Lord forever).
We also gave an overview of all of Psalm 18 last week during our focus on the Word of God. The next two weeks we will apply the theme of Christ as King to two major issues in our day: ethnic harmony today and sanctity of life next week.
Let’s get on the same page by recalling the structure of Psalm 18:
Celebration (vv. 1–3)
Salvation (vv. 4–19)
Explanation (vv. 20–30)
Salvation (vv. 31–45)
Celebration (vv. 46–50)
Today we have a razor sharp focus on the last section (vv. 46–50) celebration of salvation. In particular, I want to direct your attention to the last two verses: 49–50. It surprises people to discover that the message of the Old Testament focuses on missions (v. 49) and the Messiah (v. 50). Here we have these twin themes the two closing verses of the Psalm:
For this I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations,
and sing to your name.
Great salvation he brings to his king,
and shows steadfast love to his anointed,
to David and his offspring forever.
We noted last week that this Psalm presents David as a picture of God’s faithfulness to his Messiah—David the anointed king is a partial picture—but a fuller fulfillment awaits with great David’s greater son.
We also noted the relationship between the middle section of the psalm (explanation) and the other two pairs of salvation and celebration. Because the king is righteous and carefully keeps God’s word (vv. 20–30), therefore the God who is faithful to his word saves and vindicates his king (4–19; 31–45), and therefore anyone can share in the victory and celebrate the victory (1-3; 46–50).
So here is what I want to ask this morning: how does the Bible apply the message of Psalm 18 to the issue of ethnic harmony? Notice that I am not asking how we can apply Psalm 18—I am asking a more specific question—how would God in his word apply Psalm 18 to the issue of ethnic harmony? We don’t have to wonder because God shows us in Romans 15:9.
Psalm 18 provides the apostle Paul with proof that salvation extends to the Gentiles through Jesus the Messiah in Romans 15:9. Let’s put this verse in its context:
May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,
“Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.”—Romans 15:5–9
Why did the Son of God have to take on Jewish flesh in order to bring salvation to all nations? The Messiah became a servant to the circumcised (he took on Jewish flesh as the Jewish Messiah) for two parallel reasons: (1) in order to confirm the promises made to the Jewish patriarchs—and (2) so the Gentiles would join in the worship of God as recipients of his mercy in Christ. These two things are not isolated or independent things: the fulfillment of the promises to the patriarchs results in the ingathering of the Gentiles. The promise of Genesis 12 was that Abraham would be the father of all nations—not just the Jews.
This application helps us answer a question raised by Psalm 18. Here is the question. The King is singing among the Gentiles—in their presence. But it is not immediately clear if he is singing with them (have they joined in the joyful celebration of salvation) or is he gloating over them (taunting them that he has beaten them)? The Psalm has just celebrated how he trampled people and beat them as fine dust under his feet and foreigners come cringing to him. Are they singing with him or are they under his feet as he is singing his crushing victory song over them?
The remaining three quotations make it crystal clear: The Gentiles are celebrating salvation with his people: “And again it is said, ‘Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people’” (Romans 15:10; see also Deuteronomy 32:43).
Then Paul quotes from another Psalm (117:1) in Romans 15:11,
And again,
“Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,
and let all the peoples extol him.”
Then Paul goes to Isaiah 11—referring to the Messiah as the son of David—the root of Jesse:
And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.”
—Isaiah 11:12
All the Gentiles can sing as recipients of mercy because Jesus has crushed under his feet the only enemies that can really kill them. Psalm 16 is a celebration of resurrection. Death lies defeated under his feet. Genesis 3:15 said that the devil would be stomped under his feet. God’s mercy in Christ is now available to all the peoples and those that receive it join the song of the slain Lamb because “by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9).
Main Application Point: Racism in the church goes against the very reason why Jesus came.
It is no small thing for the church of Jesus Christ to go against the reason he took on flesh, the reason he died, the reason he rose again! How can we work against the grain of what his victory accomplished?
You may wonder how racism happens in the church. Why is this issue such a problem that we still face? The church has two things that always exist side by side: gospel identity and ethnic identity. Gospel identity is who we are in Christ. Ethnic identity is who we are ethnically. These two things are in a constant tug of war in the church. When ethnic identity has a stronger pull than gospel identity, the result is ethnic idolatry. When gospel identity has a stronger pull than ethnic identity, the result is ethnic harmony. This dynamic can be pictured in an equation:
Ethnic idolatry = Ethnic identity trumps Gospel identity
Ethnic harmony = Gospel identity trumps Ethnic identity
In order to see the problem clearly, we need to come to grips with the powerful and natural pull of ethnic identity. It is a natural thing—it does not have to be a bad thing at all. You are ethnic. The food you eat. The songs you sing. Your ancestry—the color of your skin—you are ethnic.
It has a pull. There is a smell—the smell of childhood memories and what is familiar and comfortable—what feels and smells like home. Some of our friends were telling us about a Starbucks they visited here in the Cities. Starbucks is normally a majority culture place. But when they stepped inside it looked like an Ethiopian Starbucks, not because Ethiopians owned or because there was a sign out front that said only Ethiopians were welcome, but because the vast majority of people that gather there are Ethiopians. They don’t need to advertise it that way—it simply attracts Ethiopians because many Ethiopians already go there. The principle at work everywhere in the world is that birds of a feather flock together.
Ethnicity has a powerful pull. I feel it every time I go into an Ethiopian store to buy injera (spongy bread that Ethiopians love—and the Meyers love too). I spent six of the most formative months of my life in Ethiopia. Sights, sounds (Amharic), smells—it was authentically Ethiopian. If it had a pull on me (and I was only there six months), imagine what kind of pull it has if it represents your whole childhood or your whole life. Ethnicity is undeniable and powerful.
The birds of a feather flock together principle says that ethnic sameness draws similar people together and ethnic differences cause divisions or barriers. When we make ethnicity an identity it leads to being inclusive toward those like you and being exclusive to those unlike you.
And here is the problem: We are never neutral. The flesh—human nature—always drifts toward ethnic identity and therefore ethnic exclusivity. We always drift toward birds of a feather flocking together. How will God get glory for that? Wow. God must be at work here—it is a miracle that you would all be together. Who would have thought that so many similarities would actually bring people together? No one says that because it is natural—it is the pattern of the world. It is not supernatural—just natural.
Gospel identity is different than ethnic identity. It is a miracle. It testifies that something bigger that we share in common is powerful enough to keep very different people together. It is like J.R.R. Tolkien’s book The Fellowship of the Ring. What an anomaly it is for dwarves, elves, humans, and hobbits to get together. The differences were much clearer than the similarities, which is why they don’t normally spend time together. In this case, something bigger and more massively important brought them together. The one ring to rule them all—the greatest cause of saving Middle-Earth from evil and annihilation!
The church of Jesus Christ testifies that Jesus alone is big enough to unite so many different peoples together into one people. The gospel of Jesus has a supernaturally powerful pull that win the tug of war with the flesh that pulls the planet toward ethnic identity.
Therefore, the church wants to mirror God’s gospel welcome mat. The righteousness of Christ is the welcome mat into God’s house—Jesus is the door. God lays out the welcome mat of Christ’s righteousness and says “whosoever will come.” Racism is the act of vandalizing God’s house by stealing the welcome mat and putting up a fence around the church with a no trespassing sign. Racism is a denial of the gospel and its power to save all who believe. God’s strategy for ethnic harmony is much better than the world’s strategy for ethnic tolerance.
Two Strategies: Worldly and Divine
Our country as a whole has a strategy against racism. Let’s compare and contrast it with God’s strategy against racism. The world’s strategy is called tolerance. Don’t assume that your way is better—just put up with everything. Don’t make any value judgments at all. This is not a powerful witness. Imagine someone very different than you walking up to you on the street and looking you in the eyes and saying, “I just want you to know—I tolerate you.” OK, we can agree that it is a good thing to not have open hostility and ethnic wars, but is this the best we can do? What eternal, lasting good are we achieving?
The gospel is not a message that achieves ethnic tolerance—I tolerate you because of Jesus. The gospel is a message that purchases eternal reconciliation (peace with God) and ethnic reconciliation (peace with one another). We don’t say I tolerate you—we say I love you because we stand forgiven together in Christ bowing before our king. Can you believe we are part of the same family? You are my brother or sister if you confess Christ—it does not matter what you look like!
Conclusion
We have a long way to go at Bethlehem. I want to say three things in closing that we are doing.
First, we are making ethnic harmony a priority. I know what you are saying: Wait a minute. I thought it already was. You said so earlier that it is one of our 14 priorities. I have realized that it cannot be 1 of 14—this one takes intense intentionality (blood, sweat, and tears). It has to be in the top five. And it is for me. It is in the top five in my heart and it may be the weakest in terms of non-verbal evidence of what is true at Bethlehem. One of the new things we are doing this year is facing up more fully to the problem and admitting we need more help. I am taking my leadership team to a conference on being a multi-ethnic church. How do we become more in practice what we say in principle?
Second, we aim to listen well. We want to listen to those who are not majority culture here and find out what your experience is. What can we do to make our “gospel welcome” more consistent in terms of what we say and do? We also bring people like Trillia Newbell—come here her speak to us (Sunday night at 5:30pm).
Third, we want to set our sights on is praying earnestly. What I mean is this: Sometimes you can hear a sermon at Bethlehem and because that guy who preaches gets carried away and geeks out over the Bible so much—it can leave you with just enough time to run and get your kids or try to make it to your class on time. It doesn’t leave us with much margin to linger and pray.
Today I want to pray. Pray in huddles together with those around you—especially if you don’t know them. This could be scary. You will probably pray with someone you don’t know. Go ahead and introduce yourself to each other and pray for this—pray for growth in this area—both personally and corporately. Perhaps you may even be led to pray a prayer of confession. That you have not been ethnically aware, that we have not been open and warm to try and include those who are different from us. Perhaps we have unintentionally built up walls or constructed fences through our preferences or comfort zones or whatever.
What comes natural will not establish ethnic harmony—but will reinforce ethnic exclusivity. Let us confess where we have been selfish and careless. As we confess, let us remember that there is no one righteous. Then let us look to our unified hope—the Righteous One. His righteousness opens salvation up to everyone—every ethnicity—all the peoples!
After five minutes of praying, we will sing a song of confession—that we need him. If we are going to be a church that displays ethnic harmony, we need him, oh how much we need him. He is our one defense, our righteousness! Pray that the supernatural power of God would break through and that the walls might come down and we would be given one mind to glorify God with one heart and mouth.
Sermon Discussion Questions
Outline
Main Point: Racism in the church runs completely counter to the reason why Jesus came.
Discussion Questions
Application Questions
Prayer Focus
Pray for a grace to grow personally and corporately in the area of ethnic harmony as we welcome one another in Christ for the glory of God.