How Does The Heart Of God Lead To Our Freedom? (Psalm 40:6-8)
GIST: God’s heart is reflected in willing devotion not obligatory sacrifices.
Ok, so it is literally the Fourth of July today, so you were probably expecting there to at least be some kind of connection to freedom in our services...even from me ☺. There will be...but it might not be evident until our takeaways ☺, so don’t get too disappointed if you don’t see it right away.
Again, I didn’t have to go searching for a passage to do this. We’re continuing our study of Psalm 40, and it’s there. Last week, we started this psalm, and I told you there was just too much to cover in one Sunday. After continuing to outline it this week, I think it might actually take us four ☺. After starting our summer with what were essentially two lamenting psalms. This psalm starts on the other side of deliverance.
Last week, we broke down seven quick points to see what that deliverance will look like. Here was our gist: Be deliberate about waiting because He is listening and will rescue you, stabilize you, inspire you to praise, and use you to witness as you experience the blessing of being fully known and loved. Today, we’re going to look at just the next three verses which really start to give us a picture of how this deliverance is possible. These verses were actually quoted by the author of Hebrews about Jesus, so we see this is one of those instances where a passage has dual-fulfillment. David was inspired to write this about his own deliverance, but it also pointed forward more powerfully to the One who would bring ultimate deliverance, Jesus Christ. I’m going to put the quotations side by side as I read from Psalm 40 this morning in case you were curious, but also because there is one slight difference in the wording we’ll address when we come to it (so you don’t think I’m trying to hide something from you ☺).
Psalm 40:6-8: "6 In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. 7 Then I said, "Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: 8 I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.""
Hebrews 10:5-7: "Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,"Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; 6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. 7 Then I said, 'Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.'"
Last week, I might have made you nervous by telling you we had seven points. This week, I’m probably going to give you false hope by telling you we only have one, and it’s our gist statement for this morning: God’s heart is reflected in willing devotion not obligatory sacrifices. And in case you were searching for the “freedom connection there”. It’s in that heart and only through that heart we can experience real freedom. Let’s break down this text→
I. God’s Heart Is Reflected In Willing Devotion Not Obligatory Sacrifices
Look again at the first part of verse 6. “6 In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear…” There are a few points to digest here in this picture of God’s heart. And to start us off, we really need to respond to a couple questions. First,→
Does God Not Delight In Offerings? There are sacrifices made all throughout the Old Testament. David, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote this when the only Scriptures available to him were the first five books of the Law. So are we to understand that nearly 1,000 years before the birth of Jesus there was an understanding that the sacrificial system was not about earning God’s favor? Yes! And David isn’t even the only Old Testament writer to echo this. As an example, Hosea 6:6 says: “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” David understood that the animal sacrifices were just a picture that pointed to our deeper need. It was always about God pursuing our hearts.
That’s the picture here when David says you have given me an open ear. Most commentators agree this is a reference to the practice of bondservanthood (I don’t actually think that’s a word, but bondservant is and servanthood is, so I’m making it work ☺). This happened when a servant was legally freed from his master, but he loved the family and knew that living as their servant was a better life than he would ever have outside of it, so he would choose to be taken to the doorpost of the house and have his ear pierced with an awl (Exodus 21:5-6). This piercing would be a sign from that point forward that he had chosen to love and serve his master.
Now, depending on what translation you're using, it might be more or less clear that in the original text the word for ear here is actually plural. Some have used this to argue that bondservanthood wasn’t actually meant because that always involved one ear, so this could just be referring to being made attentive to God’s will (which still lands at the same place, if less dramatically). However, many scholars believe the plural use of “ears” was done purposefully to show emphasis. The standard procedure was to have one ear pierced through, but God has pierced both of his ears in a sign of complete dedication.
David wrote this about himself originally, but it was spoken of later and more fully of Jesus. Yet, in that quotation from Hebrews I put up earlier, there is a difference. Did you catch it? Instead of this talk of ears, it speaks of a body being prepared. So, we have to ask: is this a misquotation? Was it→
Bondservanthood or a Prepared Body? The translation Paul was quoting was the Greek Septuagint. As with many translations, when a phrase did not have the same meaning from language to language, where possible, different words were used to communicate the same truth. That’s what is happening here. The ideas being communicated are the same. A body being prepared to be offered fully or a sign of complete commitment; either way, the picture is the same.
Moving to the second part of verse 6 we see an early point further emphasized. “...Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.” Not Required? Wait, isn’t that exactly what the Old Testament Law did require? Again, this is focusing on the point of all the sacrifices. Namely, willing devotion over obligatory sacrifice. The offerings weren’t enough to save us. They were a picture of the deeper need which has always been there→ someone to come and rescue us. And that is where these next verses unmistakably go because though we can kind of piece together how these words could have been applied to David, they most definitely find their deepest meaning in Jesus.
“7 Then I said, "Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me:” Again, most fully this has to be a Personal Example Of Jesus who came personally as the fulfillment of Scripture. David might have reflected the heart of what the Scripture was calling for (coming to serve God with His whole heart, not just in words and traditions), but Jesus is literally the prophetic fulfillment of the entirety of Scripture. Everything is pointing to Him, and He came personally to call us all to Him.
And this last verse points to the attitude He came with, which is also meant to be our attitude, and I find it incredibly convicting. “8 I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart."
There are two points I want to make here. First, we see that following after Jesus, doing the will of God the Father is meant to be our→
Delight. This is such a different picture than what most people have of the church. Maybe even a different idea than many of us within the church have. Obeying God is not meant to be trying to live up to a set of rules you could never possibly obey and which rob you of any opportunity to actually enjoy life here, so you can have what is supposed to be a better and more fulfilling future. That’s a hard pill to swallow because it’s not what Jesus came proclaiming. It’s not what the Bible teaches at all. We’re called to live a fulfilled life now, and then experience that on the grandest scale, in untarnished perfection, in Heaven.
We aren’t called to some cold set of rules. We’re called to walk with Jesus who loves us and has the best plan for us. The world might try to tell you they have joy and completion, but they don’t. Hope, fulfillment, purpose. Those come from following Jesus.
As we know this passage is most fully realized in Jesus Himself, so it’s important not to miss He delighted to serve God the Father, and the context of this passage is His sacrifice— the Cross! Do we have the kind of love that finds joy even in times of suffering? Can we look to the bigger picture? We also see this delight came alongside His→
Wholeheartedness. The law, Scripture, is in His heart. It’s deeply ingrained into who He is. We should reflect this. How does that happen? Yeah, you know what I’m about to say. We need to be diving into His Word. Again, not because we have to do this, but because it contains hope and joy, and we want to understand it!
TAKEAWAYS
Ok, so I told you I would at least make some kind of connection to freedom in our takeaways ☺, and I’m not just stretching for the holiday, these are natural conclusions from the text.
Jesus loves us so much He willingly & joyfully came and sacrificed Himself to set us free.
Experiencing true freedom comes from wholehearted obedience. Don’t misunderstand me. I know I just spent a whole sermon telling you it’s not about obligations. I’m not changing directions here or trying to sneak in some kind of contradictory point at the end and hoping no one will notice. You are not obligated to obey. Christianity is not a set of rules to follow or boxes to check. That’s not what it’s about. It’s not about being good enough or always getting it right. Christianity is about following the Jesus who loves you. That’s obedience that is bred from love, not obligation. That’s seeking after the joy of His salvation, not slugging through some impossible self-improvement plan. You want to experience real freedom? Give up control and follow Him! John Donne is one of my favorite poets. He lived a very interesting life that started with worldliness to the extreme. I’ll be teaching his poetry next Spring, and I am having to be very selective about his early works because, like his life-style, they are often overtly sexual. But Jesus got ahold of his life, and his most famous later works are called The Holy Sonnets. “Holy Sonnet XIV” is probably my favorite. It ends with these words:
Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
But am betrothed unto your enemy:
Divorce me, untie or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
True joy. True freedom comes only from being wholeheartedly His and His alone.
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