SERIES: Songs of Ascents
TEXT: Psalm 134
MESSAGE: “The God-Centered Life”
“Nearly everyone I grew up with in my childhood church in Lincoln, Nebraska, is no longer Christian. That’s not unusual. Forty million Americans have stopped attending church in the past 25 years. That’s something like 12 percent of the population, and it represents the largest concentrated change in church attendance in American history. As a Christian, I feel this shift acutely. My wife and I wonder whether the institutions and communities that have helped preserve us in our own faith will still exist for our four children, let alone whatever grandkids we might one day have. This change is also bad news for America as a whole: Participation in a religious community generally correlates with better health outcomes and longer life, higher financial generosity, and more stable families—all of which are desperately needed in a nation with rising rates of loneliness, mental illness, and alcohol and drug dependency.” — Jake Meader
v. 1 — “Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord…”
TEXT: Psalm 134
“The pilgrimage began in ‘Kedar’ (120:5); it ends in the Lord’s house wherein the pilgrims ‘bless the Lord’ (2) and he blesses them (3). When he ‘blesses’ us he reviews our needs and meets them; when we bless him we review his excellencies and worship him. What joy as the pilgrims at last arrive and their feet are standing not only in Jerusalem but in the Lord’s house!” — Alec Motyer
From today’s text, what do we see as reasons for gathering to worship God? Gathering helps us…(1. Recenter 2. Remember 3. Receive)
- Recenter (v. 1) “Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who stand by night in the house of the Lord!”
“In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.” —David Foster Wallace, 2005
“...[the] most basic question which God continually poses to each human heart: Has something or someone besides Jesus the Christ taken title to your heart’s trust, preoccupation, loyalty, service, fear, and delight? It is a question bearing on the immediate motivation of one’s behavior, thoughts, and feelings. In the Bible’s conceptualization, the motivating question is the lordship question: who or what “rules” my behavior, the Lord or an idol?” — David Powlison
“The psalmist summons all the servants of the Lord to bless the Lord. True worship is God centered. You can’t miss the emphasis on “the Lord” (vv. 1–3). Worship isn’t about our work, our performance, or our goodness; it’s about God’s work, God’s grace, and God’s goodness. He is worthy of praise.” — Daniel L. Akin
- Remember (v. 2)
“Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the Lord!”
(Who we are & Who God is)
“In verse 2 the psalmist summons everyone to add another physical activity to their worship experience: the lifting up of their hands in worship (cf. Ps 28:2). This symbol represents adoration, dependence, and submission (1 Tim 2:8). It’s also a symbol of blessing, which leads into verse 3 (Lev 9:22; Goldingay, Psalms, 572). Since the worshipers are standing in the “holy place,” the earthly sanctuary, they are perhaps being called to direct their worship either to the heavenly sanctuary (cf. Ps 150:1) or to the most holy place in the temple (1 Kgs 8:6; Ps 132:7)…So then, this little psalm provides some good reminders for worship. Worship should be God centered, it should happen day and night, and it involves the whole person.” — Daniel L. Akin
- Receive (v. 3)
“May the Lord bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth!”
“To bless God is to acknowledge gratefully what He is; but to bless man, God must make of him what he is not, and give him what he has not” (Psalms 73–150, 454).” — Derek Kidner
TAKEAWAYS: How can we
- What is currently inhabiting the center of your life?
“The problem in front of us is not that we have a healthy, sustainable society that doesn’t have room for church. The problem is that many Americans have adopted a way of life that has left us lonely, anxious, and uncertain of how to live in community with other people…In the Gospels, Jesus tells his first disciples to leave their old way of life behind, going so far as abandoning their plow or fishing nets where they are and, if necessary, even leaving behind their parents. A church that doesn’t expect at least this much from one another isn’t really a church in the way Jesus spoke about it.” — Jake Meader
- What is our current heart-posture before God?
- What do we need to receive from God today?
“May the Lord bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth!” — Psalm 134:3