Do You Care About The Least? (Psalm 41:1-3)
GIST: New hearts find joy in true compassion and fulfillment in a kingdom perspective.
This morning, we’re coming to Psalm 41. If you’ve read the book of Psalms in a hard-copy Bible, you might have noticed that there are “books” or “divisions” of the psalms. This is the final psalm of book one, and it since we’ll probably be camping out in it for a couple of weeks, it will also be the final psalm we discuss together this summer before starting, per the request of many in the congregation, the fall with a study of the book of Revelation. (Yes, I know that means we only made it through four psalms this summer ☺️.)
In Psalm 41, David is once again crying out to God in the midst of a very specific trial. He is facing slander and betrayal but knows, because God has changed His heart, he can face this hardship with hope. (I know I use that phrase often, but I really think it expresses what the Christian perspective should be.) However, before he gets into the slander and betrayal, we just see the heart part, and it narrows in on an aspect of our lives that I really think deserves our full attention today. Therefore, we’re going to start this conversation today by just looking at the first three verses.
“1 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble the LORD delivers him; 2 the LORD protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land; You do not give him up to the will of his enemies. 3 The LORD sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness You restore him to full health.”
When I first came as pastor, we had new shirts printed that carried the message we wanted to drive our congregation. The words weren’t original… even though I thought when I was 18, I was the first person to summarized Jesus’ words about the greatest commandment in this nice condensed fashion...until I saw it on a bumper sticker in a Christian bookstore ☺️. The shirts read: “Love God. Love People.” I bring this phrase up from the pulpit a lot. It’s simple. It’s easy to say. It makes for a nice-looking shirt. Yet, it is so hard to live because we are talking about complete heart transformation. What David brings out in these first three verses, really illustrates what part of loving people will look like, so that’s our focus for this morning. Here’s our two-part gist: New hearts find joy in true compassion and fulfillment in a kingdom perspective.
Let’s start by looking at this idea that→
I. New Hearts Find Joy In True Compassion
There are three words in verse one I want to draw special attention to as we break this down. “1… Blessed is the one who considers the poor!” We’ll break this down by asking three questions. First→
What Does It Mean To Be Blessed? This is a term we’ve encountered before. In fact, it’s how the very first psalm starts. It carries the idea of true and lasting happiness. Last week, I said it is possible for us to be saved from our sins, but still miss out on what Jesus is doing around us. Here, we’re given another insight into how we can really enjoy that abundant life Jesus made possible for us on the cross. We are meant to find joy in… caring about people. I don’t want to get too ahead of myself here, but in case you doze, this isn’t just talking about some kind of required service. This is about having a heart that really loves...even the unlovable. Which brings me to the second question→
Who are “the poor”? The word translated “poor” could also be “weak” or “needy”. Though economic poverty could definitely be included in this, it’s not the only category we’re talking about here. These are those who cannot help themselves. Those who are outcast or shunned. Those society ignores or rejects. Those your natural prejudices and biases would push away. Yeah, that last description is uncomfortable, but it’s a reality we need to face, especially as people who have been transformed by amazing grace. That’s, again, the key: The greatly loved, love greatly! No, this doesn’t mean compromising on the Truth of God’s word. Being called to love doesn’t mean being called to agree with everyone. Yet, if we have truly been saved by grace, we’ll want to live gracious lives. It will be core to who we are, and it will...bring us joy!
Guys, we live in a country right now that is so divided. There’s a lot of hate. Honestly, people are pulling more and more away from each other, and it is becoming increasingly normal to really only want to be around people who agree with you or see the world the same way you do. We cannot call ourselves Christians and live like that. I was going to put several quotations in at this point to help illustrate how this heart is laid out in Scripture (check out the beatitudes!), but decided to just read this one passage instead. It’s longer than I’d usually pull, but Jesus’ words are always better than mine.
“34 Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' 40 And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' 41 "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' 44 Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' 45 Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."” (Matthew 25:34-46)
I don’t think that really needs any commentary. Let it sink in. Who are the least in our community? And→
How Do We “Consider” Them? Maybe the first step is not thinking in terms of “us” and “them” at all ☺️. These are people created and loved by the same God who created and loves you. These are people in need of rescue, just like you. These are people placed into our lives on purpose.
BUT, we’re not just trying to fabricate some kind of false love in order to earn God’s favor. Remember Galatians? That’s not what salvation is about. In Spurgeon’s notes on these first three verses, he responds to the easy misreading of this passage. Who wouldn’t want to get all these wonderful promises which seem to be offered to those who care for the poor? (Don’t worry, we’re addressing that in our next point ☺️.) He puts it like this: “Who would not consider the poor if such be the promised reward? [But we] must not imagine that the benediction pronounced in these three verses belongs to all who casually give money to the poor, or leave it in their wills, or contribute to societies… The blessing is for those whose habit it is to love their neighbour as themselves…”
This is more than just acknowledging needs. This is about really caring for people, and wanting to get to the root of their struggles. It’s about going out of our way to help...and it’s about wanting to do this because we love God and love people. We have to be honest. Even our pursuits of social justice can so often be clouded by agendas. That’s not Christian love.
Let me just frame this tangibly for us. Next week, we’re doing VBS for the first time since the pandemic. Prayerfully, there will be kiddos in this building, and we’ll have an opportunity to tell them about Jesus and demonstrate His love. Are you excited to serve them? New hearts find joy in real compassion, and→
II. New Hearts Find Fulfillment In A Kingdom Perspective
I’m not sure if that first point was really a lot longer than usual or if it’s that longer quote that skewed things a bit, but I’ll still try to be quick with this point. This passage does carry an expectation of fulfillment. As we’ll see, David considers himself amongst those who have loved the people around him, so he’s calling on God from that place expecting specific returns on his investment. That actually might be a terrible way of putting this. Nonetheless, as I’ve studied this passage, several commentators assumed David was expecting physical rewards for his faithfulness. I cannot speak to what David was or wasn’t expecting, but I do know he is called a man after God’s own heart and does seem to keep a pretty Heavenward perspective. Either way, the truth we can draw from these remaining verses is that having this kind of love will lead to fulfillment, but→
Your Fulfillment Might Not Be The Fulfillment You Were Expecting. I know I didn’t read the whole psalm this morning but take time to look at the rest of it. David was sick and hurting in this psalm! Instead of looking for getting temporary, earthly rewards, we need to keep a→
Kingdom Perspective! Let’s just break the rest of the verses down in that context.
“In the day of trouble the LORD delivers him;” We’ve been talking about deliverance for the past four weeks. This is a picture of salvation! If you call to Him for salvation, He reaches into your brokenness and places your feet upon His safe ground.
“2 the LORD protects him and keeps him alive;” Ok, I think there are at least two things to remember here. The first is God’s guidance. Let’s never forget the reality of His direction. If we seek Him, we will find Him. If we trust Him, He will direct our steps. This makes me think of the “boring testimony”. When I was growing up, it was pretty common to hear a speaker come either to church or camp and talk about how terrible their life was before they were saved and how Jesus changed them. I don’t have that kind of testimony. Oh, I’ve messed up plenty, and I’ve allowed sins to take root in my life that have hurt me and others deeply. However, much of my testimony is a testimony of “but by grace”. I haven’t lived a perfect life, but I have been spared so much hurt because God has guided me away from the effects of sinful living. That’s His protection.
What about the keeping him alive part? Eternal Life. If you belong to Jesus, this life is just the beginning of something absolutely incredible!
“he is called blessed in the land;” This is the testimony of a joy-filled life. We should be open about what Jesus is doing in our lives, and (yes, I know I keep coming back to this), live like we’re as blessed as we really are!
“You do not give him up to the will of his enemies.” We’re His, so greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world. We have nothing to fear. He’s already defeated death for us!
“3 The LORD sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness You restore him to full health.” Does this mean we’ll never get sick? No. You’ll still get sick, but you can face even death in this life with hope. You can be sustained knowing→ 2 Corinthians 5:8, “8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”
TAKEAWAYS
Pray that you will find joy in compassion.
Pray that you will see the “poor” around you and truly desire to show them the love of Christ...because you love them.
Keep a kingdom perspective. Love God and love people by pointing them to Jesus for as long as we have here.
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