What Is Your One Thing? (AM Sermon Notes)
GIST: God should be your everything, no matter what happens in life!
SCRIPTURE: Psalm 27
This morning we’re coming to Psalm 27. Before I say anything in opening, I just want to read this prayer together.
“1 Of David. The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? 2 When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. 3 Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. 4 One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple. 5 For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock. 6 And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the LORD. 7 Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! 8 You have said, "Seek my face." My heart says to you, "Your face, LORD, do I seek." 9 Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation! 10 For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the LORD will take me in. 11 Teach me your way, O LORD, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. 12 Give me not up to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence. 13 I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living! 14 Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!”
Of all the beautiful truths expounding in this sweet psalm, the one question that kept ringing in my ears as I studied it this week was→ What is your one thing? I have so many conflicting desires, or maybe not conflicting with each other necessarily, but conflicting with the same time constraints. I imagine there are a lot of people reading this that face a similar dilemma. There is so much we want to be able to do and so little time to do any of it. This psalm doesn’t direct us to neglect doing wonderful things here on earth, but rather it’s a call to put all those desires under the control of one driving longing which puts everything in the right perspective—longing to be with Jesus, to be His and to be known by Him!
So, if I could give you a gist this morning, it would be something like this: God should be your everything, no matter what happens in life! I know that sounds really vague, but the more specific gist might be too long ☺️. You should be able to say, “Jesus is my light, my salvation, my refuge, my desire, my joy— and no matter what comes, He’s still my expectant hope!” Let’s break that down!
I. MY EVERYTHING
I’ll skip around the psalm a little bit here, but so much of what is expressed is the psalmist’s desire for and dependence on God. He uses specific language to get across the depth of what he’s saying, so I want to try to dig in a little into each of these. He starts by saying the LORD is→
My Light. “1… The LORD is my light…” We actually touched on this last week. Light is that which makes it possible to see when it’s dark. It’s purity and righteousness in a world that is tainted by sinful corruption. It’s how God both guides us and what He’s changing us into.
But notice the deeply personal way he’s expressing this. He doesn’t say God is the light of the world, though He is. He doesn’t say God is the light for His people, though He is. He doesn’t say God is the light for those in need like me, though that would have been true. And it might seem like I’m making much of nothing here, but bear with me for just a second because I really think this perspective is transformational. David says the LORD is my light. This doesn’t mean that any of those bigger truths about God’s light are untrue, but that even though He is the light of the world, He is intimately concerned with guiding me, with guiding you, with being my purity and righteousness in this dark world. That’s huge guys, and I have to admit, sometimes I lose sight of that perspective. It’s easy to praise God on Sundays for guiding us. It’s harder to remember when I’m stuck on Tuesday surrounded by my worry and fear and whatever temptations assail me, that Jesus loves me and died for me and is the light of my life, which means— I can trust Him to guide me through whatever happens.
That’s the personal expression he continues to use as he moves forward. Next, he says God is→
My Salvation. “...and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” This is awesome. We talk about salvation here all the time. Salvation means rescue. When David was inspired to write this, he did not yet fully understand the implication of Jesus’ salvation. He looked forward to the Messiah’s coming but did not live to see what Jesus did for us. We have that perspective now. We can know the personal truth of Jesus’ salvation. I probably say this at some point every Sunday, but I never want to miss it. Naturally, you’re a sinner running straight for Hell. You do what you want to do and live for what makes you feel most fulfilled, and you won’t give your life willingly over to a God who wants to run your show. Jesus chose to rescue you from this sin that enslaves you, so He humbled Himself and lived a perfect human life. He then took on Hell in your place and rose again defeating death and providing you with an opportunity to be saved from your sin—calling on Him to save you! He loves you and offers you the grace of His salvation. If you’ve given Him your life, you can proclaim every day with the psalmist, He’s my salvation whom shall I fear! What could possibly shake you now?
He then says, He’s→
My Refuge. “The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” He is my place of safety, the place I belong. You might feel isolated and outcast in this world, but you will always belong at Jesus’ table because He’s welcomed you as a child!
Then, verse 4 is the one I couldn’t shake this week. Here he expresses that God is→
My Desire. “4 One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.” Man, there is so much I want to point out here, but I know I’ve already been going for a while, and we’re still on point one☺️! Notice a few things. He says that this is his one thing and he will seek after it. This means he’s made a deliberate choice. This isn’t an emotional, if-I-feel-like-it kind of desire. He has chosen to seek to dwell in God’s presence. He wants to be where God is forever! That is what drives him. Is it what drives you? Is that what you want more than anything else?
He wants to do that so that first, he can gaze upon God’s beauty. Let me speak to that for a second. This is an expression we use in church pretty often, but I feel like it can be one that we’re not comfortable really expressing on a personal level, and I’d venture to say this is especially true of men. When we talk about loving God and then call Him beautiful, it’s hard to separate that in our minds from some kind of romantic beauty. That’s not what we’re getting at here. He’s majestic and powerful, and really seeing that should take our breath away. Furthermore, when you consider His grace, how He died for you when you were running from Him as an enemy, you shouldn’t be able to help but see His beauty. This should make you want to meditate on Him wherever He is. To inquire in His temple is to give your heart and mind wholly to His consideration, to dwell on Him and His work! He’s what captivates your thoughts!
Why? Look at verse 5, “5 For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock.” Because I know where I belong and where I am safe! My light. My salvation. My refuge. And→
My Joy. You guys know this is a big one for me. Too often, we live like a bunch of sourpusses when we’ve been given the most amazing blessing! Look at what David says here. “6 And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the LORD.” We should be a rejoicing people because all of this is true!
This should be our perspective. You’ve probably heard people use the expression “He’s so Heavenly minded he’s of no earthly use, or good.” That statement is dumb. It’s not a thing. If you’re truly Heavenly minded, if your eyes are fixed on this perspective, if all you want is Jesus, you will be of immense earthly worth. Your eyes will be fixed upon the cross, and you will long to see people saved by your loving Savior. You will face trials and heartache with an unshakeable foundation of joy and hope, and because of that, you’ll be a witness to those around you. If you’re so heavenly minded you’re of no earthly use, you’re not looking at the real heaven!
I know I went long on that first point, but good news, I already started looking at the next point there ☺️! Let’s just at least briefly look at the context of the psalmist. He’s not writing this declaration of allegiance from a mountain top experience. God is to be our everything→
II. NOT MATTER WHAT HAPPENS
Again, David is writing this from a position of danger and pain, not of ease. First, we see→
He Has Enemies Who Want To Harm Him. “2 When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. 3 Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.” Look at his perspective. He is confident in the face of persecution and pain, because He knows true victory comes only from knowing Jesus. You probably don’t have physical armies attacking you this morning, but it might feel like it. The armies of discouragement and pain and confusion and frustration and anger and bitterness might be encamping around your heart right now. You might have actual groups of people seeking to tear you down, but your God is still bigger than all of that! You might feel defeated, but He never is! You can trust Him and call on Him whatever may come!
I love what happens in the middle of this psalm. David knows the truth, but he’s still human. He still gets overwhelmed by this world, so he cries out because→
He’s Still Afraid and Needs Grace. “7 Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! 8 You have said, "Seek my face." My heart says to you, "Your face, LORD, do I seek." 9 Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation! 10 For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the LORD will take me in.” He’s calling out for the grace he knows he can have, but consciously feels how much he needs. He’s been abandoned by those he loves, but has not stopped crying out to the one whose love never fails!
Then in verse 11-12, he expresses something I wish we had time to expound more, but I don’t want to skip over. “11 Teach me your way, O LORD, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. 12 Give me not up to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence.” He wants to know the truth because of his enemies. They’re coming against him with lies, but he wants them to see God’s truth! Is that how you pray? “God let those who come against me see You.” Or are you prayers more like, “God make them see that I’m innocent.”? Food for thought. But either way, it is clear to see that David’s circumstances weren’t ideal, yet he still kept his main thing the main thing—He wanted to be with God. Because no matter what was happening he could say, “You’re→
III. MY EXPECTANT HOPE
I know expectant hope probably sounds a bit redundant ☺️, but that’s what is being expressed here. Just let me explain. First, He’s→
My Hope. Look at verse 13, “13 I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living!” This is his belief and his trust. In the future and even now, God is good. He can face trials with this hope. So can you. Then, he ends with the advice to us when he essentially calls God→
My Expectation. Look at verse 14, “14 Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!” Remember, waiting means expecting God to move, expecting Him to do what He does, expecting God to be God! Be strong and courageous because you know who He is and what He does!
TAKEAWAYS
1. Remember who Jesus is to you. Can you say, “He’s my light, my salvation, my refuge, my desire, my joy, and my expectant hope?” He is. If you’re stumbling through life without these, come to Him today!
2. Don’t let your current circumstances blind you to His unchanging grace. I’ve been saying this a lot lately, but clearly we all (myself included) need to hear this. Life will hurt sometimes. Bad things will happen. Don’t allow yourself to get all wrapped up in what is going on. Instead, keep your eyes focused on the one who really sees what’s happening in a way we never could. He’s constant, and His mercies are new everyday!
3. Make sure He’s your one thing. Of all the things competing for you time and attention, don’t forget that everything in your life should be for Him. One of my favorite passages is Matthew 6:31-33. “31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Is He your one thing today?
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