MPC
24th February 2008.February 24 - Psalm 16 - "Imperishable King - Part 3"
MPC
24th February 2008.
Phil Campbell
Apart from the obvious politics at the opening of Parliament a couple of weeks ago with the Sorry Day speech, did it strike you when you saw Paul Keating and Bob Hawke and Gough Whitlam - haven't they aged? Especially, I thought, Paul Keating.
And the Queen. If you've been watching A Year with the Royals on Channel 9; tourists looking at the display of frocks in Windsor Castle with photos of Princess Elizabeth 60 years ago and one American tourist saying, "I didn't realise how beautiful she was. She was a beauty queen." Which now, with the Queen in her 80s, is a little harder to appreciate.
Fidel Castro, of course, this week finally acknowledged that age and decay have got the better of him. Stepping down from office in Cuba after ruling with an iron fist for 49 years and 49 days. And here's what he said.
"It would be a betrayal to my conscience to accept a responsibility requiring more mobility and dedication than I am physically able to offer."
In other words, aged 81 and riddled with illness, his body can't keep going. And he's no longer fit to rule. Fidel Castro can survive 638 assassination attempts, he can stand against the might of the USA... but in the end, he can't survive the decay of his own body. And nor can any other leader in the world.
Now all of that cheerful stuff brings us to the key verse for this morning's talk.
Which in the face of reality seem like words of absolute over- confidence from King David in Psalm 16. Because it seems like he's talking about himself. The words of Psalm 16 verse 9. "You will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your holy one... see decay."
A claim by Israel's King David that no matter what the reality of other world leaders, no matter what the reality of ordinary people like you and me... God will not let his holy one... see decay.
So let's start at the beginning. And take a closer look at this Psalm that in the first instance is about King David's confidence in God.
We're told in the small print at the start of Psalm 16 that it's a miktam of David, and like most of the other technical terms in the small print at the start of the Psalms, nobody is actually sure what a miktam is. Well, I can tell you what it is. It's one of these.
But one guess is, a miktam means an inscription. Words engraved for posterity. The sort of poem you might carve on a monument. Or a building. Or a tomb.
Whatever it means, here it is. David's miktam. And in verses 1 and 2, David, who we saw last week was God's anointed king of Israel, spells out where he finds his security. Where he rightly finds his hope for the future.
It's not in his fortress, it's not with his army, it's not with his team of medical researchers who are on the verge of curing cancer... or the latest techniques in plastic surgery.
In the ESV translation which is slightly more literal, verse 1 says, preserve me O God; it's the same meaning here. "Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge." Verse 2, "I said to the Lord, 'You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.'"
Without the Lord his God, apart from the Lord his God, everything else is a vain hope.
And in verses 3 to 6 there's a picture of two very clear options. Taking refuge in the Lord. Or as so many of the Israelites did, running after other gods instead.
The thing with the Israelites, they loved to take an each way bet. And so there's a shrine to the god Asherah up the road with its poles that you got drunk and danced around and you'd have some sex with the shrine prostitutes and people said it guaranteed good crops. Which has got to be a win-win, hasn't it? They're saying, "What's the downside? Some wild naked dancing. And good crops as well."
So you'd be off sacrificing to Israel's God one day, and you'd be dancing round the Asherah poles the next. You'd be honouring the God of Israel one day... and pouring out drink offerings of blood to Baal the next.
David says, "No way." He says, "My security comes from the Lord God. My delight is in my fellow Israelites who are faithful." And so look at the contrast in verses 3 and 4.
As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight. 4 The sorrows of those will increase who run after other Gods. I will not pour out their libations of blood or take up their names on my lips.
I'll have nothing to do with false sacrifices to false gods. Because David says, I know where the good things come from. I know the source of every blessing. In fact, it seems at this point like every promise of blessing God had ever made to David has actually come about.
Which is what he says in verse 5. "Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance."
Which is why in verses 7 to 9 David says he praises the Lord and keeps him constantly in mind, and his heart is glad and his tongue rejoices.
Do you notice in the middle of verse 9 there's a grammatical change of tenses? From the past and the present. To David's confidence for the future. And what God will do.
And at this point there comes this incredible claim, in a world where back then mortal bodies decayed exactly the way they do now.
There was an urban legend going round that Walt Disney when he died in 1966 had his body snap frozen in liquid nitrogen so he could be revived when medical science could cure his cancer. Cryogenics. Which has led to lots of bad puns about the dead cartoonist who wanted to get re-animated or jokes about Disney on ice.
It actually wasn't true about Walt Disney. But a little bit of online research at sites like cryonics.org shows that even if Walt Disney didn't get frozen, there are plenty of other people willing to pay $35,000 for a stay in the deep freeze. Because they're so desperate to fight off death and decay.
And so in case of emergency, according to their website, make sure you get your head packed in ice.
David, apparently, is convinced that he won't even need the icepacks. David, apparently, is convinced that as the holy one of God, as God's anointed one... that his body... is somehow going to be preserved.
Which sounds like an audacious hope. But if you look at verses 9 and 10, it's exactly what he says.
Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
Now David might be God's anointed king. But you've got to admit, that's a big, big claim. As is the last verse. "You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
The obvious problem, of course, being that not so long after he wrote these words... King David got old. And died.
King David was buried in a tomb. And King David ... was eaten by worms.
Which makes words like my body will rest secure and you will not abandon me to the grave and you will not let your holy one see decay seem kind of empty words.
Or at least perhaps raising the question that if God won't let his holy one see decay, then maybe David wasn't really God's holy one at all. Maybe David in all his kingly glory was just a pale shadow of what the holy one of God was meant to look like.
And the role of imperishable king, the role of everlasting ruler, the role of God's holy one whose body would not see decay was still vacant. And waiting for somebody else more qualified.
Whichever way you read it, at the very least confusing, for the average Jew who read the Psalms.
Which we'll see is exactly the point where the New Testament picks up on the words of the Psalm. That David who wrote those words... didn't fulfil them. But Jesus did.
Turn over if you can to Acts chapter 2. And the very first Christian sermon by the Apostle Peter. Surrounded by a group of Jews who are in Jerusalem for a festival. It's Pentecost, and the Spirit has finally been poured out on the apostles. And the crowds say, "What's going on?" To which Peter says, it's all about Psalm 16. It's all about the Holy One of God. It's all about... not David, but this man Jesus who you crucified. And if you think the high hopes of Psalm 16 were fulfilled in your great King David, you're wrong.
Acts 2 verse 29. Look what he says. "Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day."
But listen to this. Verse 31. "Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay."
David's words point forward. to the real Christ who was coming. Who when he came... would not be abandoned to the grave. Which in a way, if you were looking for the Christ, if you wanted to recognise him when he came, then this is the sure fire method. See what happens when he dies. See if he's abandoned to the grave. See if he sees decay. Because if he does... he's no Messiah.
So Peter says listen for a minute to what we're saying about this Jesus of Nazareth. Listen for a minute to what we're saying about this crucified rebel leader from galilee. Because the fact is, we've seen him. Back from the dead. Acts 2 Verse 32.
God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.
See, Peter and James and John and those guys, they're not excited by the resurrection so much by the fact that it's a really odd thing that they've witnessed some dead guy coming back again.
And they're not even saying, "Isn't it nice, that's a really comforting psalm and it's good to have hope after we die."
I mean, that's true and it is. But ultimately Peter's saying that Psalm 16 and the resurrection of Jesus are not talking so much about how you face your death but about how you live your life. And who the boss is.
And Psalm 16 isn't so much a Psalm of comfort about you as it is a Psalm that gets you ready to understand how great Jesus is.
Psalm 16 is a time honoured Psalm of full of personal comfort. And we prefer it if everything's about us don't we? Look at a group photo, it's never about everyone else. It's about me. And if I happened to have my eyes half closed or I'm sneezing or my tie is crooked, the whole group photo is ruined. Don't worry. Nobody else cares. They're all looking at them.
Matt Rowson was saying the other day that in their house they've been playing a kids song on a CD that says "God knows... all about me." Except that Harry when he goes around singing it is in the habit of adding a word. And instead of singing God knows all about me, Harry's version of the song says, God knows it's all about me.
Which is how we like to think, isn't it? That we're at the centre of the universe and at the centre of the meaning of the comforting words of a psalm.
Except Peter says, it was first of all about king David. But not even him. It's a psalm about Jesus of Nazareth. And the credentials that mark him out as king. That alone among every King or Queen or President or Prime Minister... this one has risen from the grave. And did not see decay... which means he's the one we've got to bow down to. And the thing to do is to repent.
Which in Acts chapter 2 is exactly what he goes on to say. And what a crowd of 3000 Jews goes on to do. Because this Jesus rose from the dead. Which means this Jesus really is the Holy One of God. Who now rules at God's right hand. It's time to bow down.
It's time to stop living like you're the centre of the universe... and bow down to Jesus. It's time to stop living like your ambitions and your goals and your comfort are the purpose of all creation and that everybody exists to serve you. And realise that everything exists to serve Jesus. And that it's only in serving Jesus that the universe and your body is every going to be set free from the bondage to decay.
And so when the people say what should we do in Acts 2 verse 37, Peter says repent and be baptised. Make a whole new beginning. Save yourselves from this corrupt generation. And 3000 of them do. And they devote themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship...and they share. And they give. And they praise God and enjoy the favour of all the people.
And on the message of the resurrection... the first church is born. A bunch of committed and connected and compassionate followers of the risen Jesus of Nazareth. Because as the one who fulfilled the words of the Psalm, as the one whose body did not see decay, he's ruling at the right hand of God. And the only reasonable thing to do is to bow to him. Without reservation. Without an each way bet.
And those first Christians knew that. And took on a whole new set of priorities. As you and I are called to as well.
In essence, if Jesus was raised from the dead, then Jesus has got the right to redefine your life and prioirities in the same we he did theirs.
And so if Jesus was raised from the dead because he's the Holy One of God then your life needs to be defined by your allegiance to him instead of by peer pressure, or greed, or your own self ambition to suck as much as you can out of this life before it's over.
And maybe you need to radically revise your own life goals. Radically revise the place that you're giving to service of your king. Radically revise the place you give to building up his people. Radically revise the place you give to calling other people to repent and be part of the Kingdom as well.
Because in a world that's in bondage to decay, in a world that's corrupted and passing away, Peter's message in Acts chapter 2 verse 40 should be our message too. See what it says?
"With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." And sign up for service with the imperishable king.
You know, we don't think this world's corrupt and dying at all. In fact, we love it. We're addicted to everything it offers. We think this world is the way to life. To the point where almost everything is more important than serving the Lord Jesus. And so whatever the opportunity to serve, whatever the call to sacrifice, there'll always be something more important to do. Some higher priority. Because it's more comfortable. And so because we're no different and our hopes are no different we're not really calling people to turn to Jesus at all.
So I wonder who in your own circle of friendships have you been challenging to even listen to a message like that? I wonder who in your own street or your workplace you've been loving in a way that's shown them already what it means to submit to the Lord Jesus. I wonder who in your own extended family you've been challenging by your new and different set of values that make the counter-cultural claims of the gospel so intrusive on the one hand but so attractive on the other. Let me finish by saying if there are people you know who are ready to listen, bring them along to hear Chappo next Sunday. Because there's no one better qualified to drive the message home.
God did not let his holy one see decay. Which means not just a change to the way you'll look at death. But a turnaround in the way we look at life as well.