November 22, 2006                                        Psalm 67:1-3

 

May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, Selah

that your way may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.

May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you.

 

            Take your minds back to the Garden of Eden.  Here Adam and Eve – two beautiful and perfect human specimens are living and ruling in the midst of an absolute paradise.  Gold, aromatic resin and onyx were abundant with four main rivers flowing through the land – regularly watering the garden and providing for a bountiful harvest of food.  The climate was so perfect that they didn’t even need clothes – and their bodies were so holy that they didn’t even need shoes, gloves or any other articles.  Adam and Eve didn’t have to ask God for anything – because everything was already there. 

It was in the midst of this Paradise – that Satan came with the boldest lie of all.  He convinced Adam and Eve that God had been CHEAP with them – that He had held back something from them that they absolutely needed to have.  His purpose was to make them UNTHANKFUL and DISCONTENT with what they had – so they would eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. 

            As a result of that sin, we find ourselves in a completely different situation.  God said to Adam in Genesis 3:17-19, “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.  It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”  That which used to come naturally to man, now has to be chased after and sweated for – through thorns and thistles.  What is worse, is that even that which we work for is still not deserved.  Jesus once said in Luke 17:10, “So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”   From birth to death we have been reduced to nothing but beggars in a world that we have ruined.

            Yet as a result of this sin our mind seems to carry a sinful sense of entitlement – as if we were entitled to all kinds of blessings just for the simple fact that we are humans. It reminds me of how the Israelites acted when they were in the desert.

Numbers 11:4-6 The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”

The Israelites felt like God somehow owed them a three course meal in the desert.  They showed no appreciation for what God had done for them – tearing out from their slavery under the Egyptians. 

            The Psalm that we are studying for this Thanksgiving sermon comes from a beggars point of view.  It is not a prayer of entitlement or demand.  It is a humble request of God and of the people.  The goal of it is the prayer –

 

“May the People Praise You, O God”

 

This 67th Psalm reflects the Aaronic blessing.  God likes this kind of begging. 

 

May God be GRACIOUS to us

 

            The Psalmist asked God – on behalf of the Israelites - to be “gracious” to us.  That word for “gracious” means to have some compassion on someone who’s in a really lousy situation.  Consider what a lousy situation we have gotten ourselves into here on planet earth.  Women have painful child births.  Nations are at war with one another.  The worst mess is spiritual.  Satan has control of our sinful world.  We who were created to be at one with God, are now born tied to Satan – on the pathway to hell.  The Psalmist recognizes that this wasn’t just HIS problem.  He prays that God would be gracious to US.  He came to God begging that He would have some mercy on us in our terrible situation. 

This is what God did.  Paul described this grace in Romans 5:6-8, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  This was in fulfillment of God’s own promise in the Garden when He declared to Satan, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers.” 

           In faith many of the Israelites recognized that they needed God’s grace.  You can see this faith in the way they named their children, Hanun, Hananiah, Elhanan, Hannah, and Anna – all reflect this word in the Hebrew – hanun – meaning grace.  Even though this is the fourth word mentioned in the Aaronic blessing – in Psalm 67 the Psalmist recognizes that this is the basis of all other blessings.  Without God’s grace – we would get nothing from God.  To a Christian – this is the first and foremost thing that we thank God for on this Thanksgiving – His Grace! 

           With the foundation of grace, we can then expand our begging into all aspects of life.  The Psalmist continues with a very general request -

 

And bless us

 

Bill Cosby once joked that when his wife was pregnant, they simply asked God if they could have a “healthy child.”  The boy that they proceeded to have ended up tormenting his sisters – to the point where they had a plot on how to kill their brother.  This son ended up causing Bill more than one headache – all because – according to Bill – he left his prayer too open.  The blessing of the Psalmist is wide open.  It trusts God to make the right decision as to what these blessings should be.  This is no risk.  You can’t leave it too open for God.  God does not toy with us or purposely answer our prayers in a way that will frustrate us.  The word for bless actually means to “bend the knee.”  It is a beautiful picture of how God in the heaven bends down from the realms to give us gifts in the realms of earth.  God could not have bent much further than to put Himself inside of a virgin’s womb and be born in lowly cattle stall.  The greatest blessing we have is when this God then bent His knee even further on the cross. 

            These blessings just keep on coming.  Think of when the Holy Spirit comes into our sinful hearts through the simple sprinkling of water at baptism.  Think of how Jesus enters our mouths and our souls at the Lord's Supper.  The blessings just come flowing down from heaven above.  On top of these, God pours a variety of food into our refrigerators and dinner tables. 

This is such a natural and daily thing that we come to expect them to God – and we don’t even pray for them.  Yet the Psalmist’s prayers recognizes that these blessings are not deserved – that they should be requested – so that we recognize and remember where they come from.  The prayer for blessings reminds us of what a giving God we truly have.  He is not a tightwad by any stretch of the imagination. 

 

Makes his face shine on us

 

            This final request is just a neat picturesque request.  You might think that the Psalmist was insane to make such a request, since God Himself said to Moses that no one can see God’s face and live.  Yet this was simply a repetition of the Aaronic blessing which God commanded to be spoken.  It is a request for God’s favor.  The face is where you show your emotions and let people know how you are feeling.  You can’t tell if someone is grumpy or not by looking at his arm or his foot.  You look at his face.  A face that shines is one that reflects happiness and joy.  It is the opposite of how Cain responded to God’s rejection of his offering.  Genesis 4:5 Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.  In the Old Testament, when people were rejoicing they would often put oil on their face to make it “shine.” (Psalm 104:15)  So when the Psalmist asked God to “make his face shine on us,” he was asking that God would smile on them – be happy with them. 

            Think of how God answered this request.  Hundreds of years later, on the top of the Mt. of Transfiguration – Jesus stood before Peter, James and John with Moses and Elijah.  Suddenly a cloud enveloped them, and Jesus clothes and face started shining like the sun.  From the cloud the Father declared, “with HIM I am well pleased.”  If you want to see God’s face shine – it shines on us through Christ.  Jesus told Philip in John 14:9, “if you have seen me, you have seen the Father.”  Here we can see God look at us – shine on us - and live.>  Philip wanted to be taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire, have Jesus crack open the clouds – and have Jesus say, “look, there He is – up on His throne!”  What Philip didn’t realize was his own sinfulness – how this would be impossible for him to do and live.  So Jesus revealed to us where to see God shine at His best – in a crib, a cross, and an empty grave.  Here we see God’s smile at it’s broadest.   

 

            This prayer of Psalm 67 is different from the prayer of your run of the mill heathen.  At first glance, it may seem the same.  After all, who doesn’t pray to God for blessings?  The difference is two fold.  First of all, the prayer of a heathen does not start with grace.  The idolater wants to get past the forgiveness and mercy stuff so he or she can get to the meat and potatoes of his request – that boyfriend, job, or health that he or she wants or needs so badly.  Grace?  Well, that can wait for another day.  Not in the mind and heart of a Christian.

            Secondly – notice why the Psalmist is requesting God’s grace, blessings and the shining of God’s face.  that your way may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.    The Psalmist’s main concern was that God’s way would be known – his salvation among all nations.  The word in the Hebrew for salvation is Yeshuah, which translated into the Greek is “Jesus”.  So you could say that the Psalmist was requesting all these things so that “your Jesus – your way – may be known on earth among all nations.”  Think about how this goes back to God’s original promise to Abraham in Genesis 22 that “all nations on earth will be blessed” through him.  The Psalmist wasn’t primarily concerned about HIMSELF when he was praying for God’s blessings.  He was concerned about the rest of the world – He wanted them also to know the Savior to come and believe in Him – and so be saved. 

            Now, you might ask, “HOW would God’s being gracious to ME and blessing me help his salvation to be known among all nations?”  Think about how that worked in the Old Testament.  The Israelites STOOD OUT among all of the nations because of the way that God blessed them.   When they had escaped from the Egyptians’ stronghold through the plagues and the parting of the Red Sea, the word got out!  By the time they got to the eastern edge of the Promised Land, they didn’t have to go and fight anyone.  Everyone came to them – because they were scared to death – knowing that the God of the Israelites was going to destroy them!  God had established a reputation through the way he treated His people.  Think about how the Gibeonites came to the Israelites – without a fight – and offered themselves to be slaves!  The fear of God had entered them.  The Psalmist was asking that God continue to do this for them – so that the nations would not just fear God – but that they would also look to Him for salvation.

            When we come to these Thanksgiving worship services – we naturally come with a sinful tunnel vision.  “We’re thankful for salvation.  We’re thankful for family.  We’re thankful for job.  We’re thankful for health.”  Yet all we are thinking about is what God has done for US.  We only think in terms of our own four walls – as if God has given us all of these gifts just for us.  So we say, “these are MY children, this is MY job, MY house, MY health.”  The Psalmist’s Psalm gets us to stop and consider this important question – WHY has God given you all of these things? Why did He bother to give you good health this year?  Why did He choose to give you a raise?  Why did He decide to give you those children? 

It is first and foremost because He is so merciful and gracious.  But think about the secondary reason.  It is so that His salvation may be known.  He wants the heathens around you to know that God is the Savior of the world.  But HOW does this happen?  How does He accomplish this?  Think about the refrain that he keeps on going to throughout this Psalm. 

 

May the people praise you, O God.

 

May the people you, O God, may all the peoples praise you.  The text goes from a singular “people” to plural “peoples.”  God’s intention is that WE – God’s people – praise HIM.  And THEN, as a result of OUR PRAISE, other peoples praise Him. 

            God hasn’t given you all of these blessings just so that you can gather it all together and count it – and get more nick-knacks on your shelves.  He doesn’t just want you to silently say a prayer of thanks every night.  He has given you them so that you will have plenty of reasons to PRAISE HIM to UNBELIEVERS.  Are you doing that?  When you write your Christmas letters this year, what are you going to talk about?  Are you going to talk about how YOU built this, earned that, and succeeded here or there?  Or – how about writing, “the good LORD gave us this, gave us that, and granted us success?”  When you talk about how your life is going, do you also add in your conversation the hope of everlasting life?  When you talk to your neighbor about what’s new, do you ever express your thanks to God – for giving you what you have?  Don’t use the word “lucky.”  There is no luck in this world.  You don’t really earn what you’ve got.  It is God who gives you these things.  Ask yourself, “am I expressing a gratitude that my friends and neighbors will know I am THANKFUL for what I have?  Do I act like I’ve been blessed by God – or cursed?” 

How can you expect anyone to be attracted to your Savior, if you act as if there were no heaven?  If you don’t praise God with your lips and your actions – who will want to know your Jesus?  Is it any wonder that you haven’t brought anyone to church yet?  Why is that?  Probably because you’ve been LAZY with your praise.  That, my friends, is the sad truth.  So what do we do?  What do we do? 

Repeat the Psalmist’s prayer tonight.   May God be gracious to us.  God, forgive us for being so blind to your blessings.  Forgive us for being so ignorant of your grace.  Forgive us for being so stingy with our praise, and so open with our complaints.  Then we remember – that the thing we are praying for from God – is the first characteristic that He claimed for Himself in Exodus 34, “the COMPASSIONATE AND GRACIOUS GOD.”  God is a God of grace.  Where we are silent, God is not.  God says to us in Isaiah 1:18, “Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”  What a God of grace – who would look at us and see us for who we are – ungrateful and unthankful even after having received the wonderful mercies of forgiveness – and God STILL says to us, “come to me, all you who are weary and heavy burdened, and I will give you rest.”  When the other nine lepers didn’t return to Jesus to give him thanks, Jesus didn’t give them their leprosy back even though they were unthankful.  God, in His mercy, has not put our sins back on us.  He has kept them in the grave.  His mercy lasts forever.  What a reason to be thankful!  What a reason to praise God!  If you are so blind as to think you have NOTHING ELSE to thank God for tonight – thank God for this gift of grace in Christ. 

 

            The boomerang was designed in it’s shape, size, and weight to return to the person from which it was thrown.  That is it’s purpose.  God designed you with a purpose – to give glory to Him in all you think, do, and say – praising Him for His wonderful mercies.   Unfortunately, the boomerang doesn’t always work according to design.  Like a rotten old stick, we fall to the ground hundreds of yards from God – and never return any thanks and praise. 

The Psalmist has come to fetch us from our fields of life this evening.  He does it by reminding us how we got this far – it’s all by the grace of God.  The mighty and merciful Lord who created us and redeemed us continues to smile on us – rotten as we are - through the cross and the empty tomb.  This merciful Lord is now standing in heaven and saying to us through Psalm 67, “return to sender.  Don’t keep my wonderful mercy silent.  Let the people praise you, O Lord.”  Think about how wonderful the good Lord has been to you, and smile about it.  Let others know what a gracious God we have – so they too will see many reasons to give thanks to our God – not just for their food and drink – but first and foremost – for His grace.  Amen.