PONDERING... Does His Power Bring You Peace? (Psalm 29)

VIDEO

Does His Power Bring You Peace? (AM Sermon Notes)

GIST: God is praiseworthy and powerful, so we can have peace.

SCRIPTURE: Psalm 29

This morning and evening, we’re coming to the end of our second “Summer In Psalms”. I love it. And it’s always a little bitter sweet transitioning between our studies like this. However, I feel like where we’re pausing at this summer is a wonderful break in our study...for two reasons. First, both of these psalms are amongst the shortest we have ever covered, so that might be ending on a high note for you! And secondly, both really encompass what so much of the psalms are drawing our attention to: our need to praise our powerful savior! Let’s read through this psalm and then dive in!

“1 A Psalm of David. Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. 2 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness. 3 The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD, over many waters. 4 The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty. 5 The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon. 6 He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox. 7 The voice of the LORD flashes forth flames of fire. 8 The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. 9 The voice of the LORD makes the deer give birth and strips the forests bare, and in his temple all cry, "Glory!" 10 The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD sits enthroned as king forever. 11 May the LORD give strength to his people! May the LORD bless his people with peace!”

As I alluded to earlier, this sermon will probably be fairly short. However, the truth presented here is one I know I need to remember everyday. Here’s the gist: God is praiseworthy and powerful, so we can have peace. Let’s see how this is developed. First, the psalm opens by proclaiming that→ 

I. GOD IS PRAISEWORTHY (1-2)

“1...Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. 2 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness.”

This opens with a call to→ 

Ascribe Glory and Strength. Glory is His character revealed—His perfection and sovereignty and grace and justice. Strength echoes His power, which is what the rest of the psalm will focus in on. We’re to proclaim these truths, that He is glorious and strong, not because He needs our proclamation for this to be true or at least known, but because it’s→ 

Due His Name. He is perfectly glorious and perfectly strong, so we’re to proclaim what is true whether or not we praise Him for it! And we’re to→ 

Worship In The Splendor Of Holiness. It seems translators have had trouble with this phrase. Are we to worship in the splendor of holiness or are we worshiping His splendor that is represented in His holiness? Either way, both are true. He is wonderful and holy. AND, because of that, we have also been called to worship Him wonderfully and holy—as in with a pure and transformed heart. Our worship of Him should be genuine, not forced or faked, and this will naturally occur when we’ve been made clean by His salvation, when He’s begun working in our lives and transforming us into His image. Otherwise, our worship is just noise. This reminds me of what God spoke through the prophet Hosea “6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” (Hosea 6:6)

We have a God who is worthy of our praise. Come back tonight, and we’re going to talk even more about that ☺️. The second major section here focuses on the fact that→  

II. GOD IS POWERFUL (3-9)

The picture we have here is one of an awesome storm. We get some powerful ones in our area, so we can imagine this a bit. But remember, the original audience wouldn’t have had the protection from these storms most of our homes provide. Storms were a huge and terrifying reality. Look at how David describes this→ 

“3 The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD, over many waters. 4 The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.” From the beginning here, He’s the one in control. “5 The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon. 6 He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox.” This is a picture of these mighty trees being tossed around so much they seem to be skipping around like young cattle. “7 The voice of the LORD flashes forth flames of fire.” Lightning. “8 The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.” Earthquakes. “9 The voice of the LORD makes the deer give birth and strips the forests bare,” He’s so powerful, He even startles the deer into having babies ☺️. “and in his temple all cry, "Glory!"” Of course they do! How could they not? Let me just make a few quick observations. First→ 

God Is Still This Powerful. He hasn’t changed! He’s still the same all powerful God He has always been. Your situation might seem out of control, but it can’t be out of His control! Nothing is! Nothing possibly could be! He’s the almighty God, and→ 

His Voice Can Speak In Your Life.  Seven times in these seven verses the phrase, “the voice of the LORD” is repeated. You’d think He’s trying to make us see something here☺️! Tim Keller put it so well in The Songs of Jesus: “His divine power is active in his Word. Do not underestimate, then, how much the power of God can do in your life through the Bible. The voice of the Lord can break down even our strongest defenses, defuse our despair, free us from guilt, and lead us to him.” (53) And that’s the point I want to make sure we don’t leave without. God is praiseworthy. God is powerful. Yet, He loves us→  

III. SO WE CAN HAVE PEACE (10-11)

“10 The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD sits enthroned as king forever. 11 May the LORD give strength to his people! May the LORD bless his people with peace!”

The storm is strong, but it’s under the direct control of God. See, because He is powerful and praiseworthy, we can have strength to face whatever comes our way. I know I keep saying this, but it’s because David kept being inspired to say this. Our lives may shake us, but God never changes. He never ceases to be enough. He never ceases to love you enough to be your strength. One of my favorite verses, and this is one I pray often for myself and for others, is in Isaiah where he says, “31 but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31) He is our strength. 

And because He is powerful and praiseworthy, we can have peace. We can rest knowing that He’s with us and that He loves us. We are hidden in the shadow of His wings. No storm is more powerful than the storm He controls. Nothing is bigger than Him! It’s like the VeggieTales song, “My God is Bigger Than the Bogeyman!” Or the Jeremy Camp song that has been stuck in my head all week, “Same Power”. 

I can see waters raging at my feet

I can feel the breath of those surrounding me

I can hear the sound of nations rising up

We will not be overtaken. We will not be overcome

I can walk down this dark and painful road

I can face every fear of the unknown

I can hear all God's children singing out

We will not be overtaken. We will not be overcome

The same power that rose Jesus from the grave

The same power that commands the dead to wake

Lives in us, lives in us

The same power that moves mountains when He speaks

The same power that can calm a raging sea

Lives in us, lives in us. He lives in us, lives in us

What are you afraid of?

TAKEAWAYS

1. Remember God is praiseworthy. I encourage you guys to come back out tonight because will be talking even more about this. However, I just want to say this morning: God deserves our praise. It should be on our lips. We should be constantly praising Him because He is holy, and He is loving, and He is good, and He is gracious, and He is enough, and He’s never let us go!

2. Remember God is all-powerful. There is nothing in life that surprises Him, and there is nothing in life that is outside of His hand. It makes me think of another passage from Isaiah where he says, “1 Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;” (Isaiah 59:1) So…→ “20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”(Ephesians 3:20-21)

3. Rest in His peace! Stop trying to do this on your own.

PONDERING... Will you live in Peace? (Philippians 4:4-7)

Will you Live in Peace?

GIST: In the midst of trials, we need the peace of God to guard our hearts and minds, so we must rejoice continually, forebear gently, and pray thankfully.

SCRIPTURE: Philippians 4:4-7

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

We’re nearing the end of this brief look at “How should we live in the face of trials?” This is by no means meant to be taken as an exhaustive study, but as I prayed about this short study, these were the texts that came to mind. And honestly, as I have studied them in preparation for these lessons, I’ve been struck by how much more is packed into these verses than I’d expected.

Today, in the morning and evening services, we’re going to look at another familiar passage. There is so much that could be said about these verses, and I’ve read a lot of those things this week. However, in the context of our focus, I just want to zero in on this: In the midst of trials, we need the peace of God to guard our hearts and minds, so we must rejoice continually, forebear gently, and pray thankfully.

1. WE NEED THE PEACE OF GOD

Context and Connection- I think, in general, Philippians is thought of as a book of encouragement. Verses like “rejoice in the Lord always” (4:4) and “I can do all things from Him who strengthens me” (4:13) are among the most recognizable admonitions in the letter. However, we have to keep the context squarely before us. They are given many encouragements because they needed them in the face of their many discouragements. Just a cursory glance at the four chapters will show you they were dealing with things like false teachers, persecution, financial issues, personal sins, and disunity within the church. They needed the peace of God. And before we go any further today, we need to realize we do, too. Just look at that list again, don’t we face these things?

False teaching- The world is full of false teachings, and these not only come in direct opposition to the church, but they also seek to invade our minds.  

Persecution- We might not be experiencing persecution in our country like these Philippians believers were, but persecution to the point of death is still a very present reality for believers all over the world, and even here in the United States we encounter social persecution and ridicule for our “repressive and harmful” beliefs.

Financial Issues- I don’t feel I even need to explain this one. If you are not touched by financial strain personally, you need not look far in this community to see someone who is.

Personal Sins- Romans 3:23 “23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”, and this can consume our lives. If you’re saved, your sin will bother you deeply--and Satan will do all he can to agitate that. If you’ve not given your life to Christ, sin is controlling your life. (Man, we could camp out here all day--and probably need to at some point. Take time to really think about this.)

Disunity- Look at the verses which provide the most immediate context for the one’s we’re looking at today. “2 I entreat Euodia [You-au-dia] and I entreat Syntyche [Sun-tuk-hey]  to agree in the Lord. 3 Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.” (Pronunciation guides added...and hopefully accurate :D). It is a heart wrenching reality that division within the church is commonplace. I cannot even begin to relate how many times I have heard about internal conflicts consuming the life of a church and its people. This simply should not be. Oh, Satan wants it to happen. What better way to destroy the church than from within? What better way to discredit our message than to let us get caught up and consumed by silly quarrels with ourselves?

So that’s the context here. Like us, this church is surrounded by false teachers, persecutions, financial issues, personal sins, and internal disunities. And like us, it needed the peace of God. So, how does that happen?

2. SO WE MUST REJOICE CONTINUALLY, FOREBEAR GENTLY, AND PRAY THANKFULLY

Rejoice Continually- “4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” Again, we’re looking at one of the most well known passages in the Bible here, so we could camp out on these implications all day. But let’s just take a few of the practical applications of this command (because it is a command, not just a suggestion).

First, joy puts trials into perspective. It almost goes without saying that it is hard to be sad when you’re happy. However, rejoicing goes much deeper than mere emotional happiness, which is transient. Nonetheless, I don’t think it would be helpful to split hairs and play too much with semantics here. The message of this command is the same as we see in James 1 “2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” We rejoice in the good and bad. Why? Because God is still God. Because God is still working. Because we know there is more to this life than we see. That is why knowing the truth is so vital (which we’ll be talking about tonight). How you feel is informed by what you know is real. Know the truth about Jesus, then we can sing that Matt Redman song (Blessed Be Your Name) in earnest:

Blessed Be Your Name

In the land that is plentiful

Where Your streams of abundance flow

Blessed be Your name

Blessed Be Your name

When I'm found in the desert place

Though I walk through the wilderness

Blessed Be Your name

Joy puts trials into perspective. Likewise, continuous joy in the Lord is positively contagious. Sour attitudes can very easily pull your day down. When you’re surrounded by people complaining about their families, and their jobs, and their churches, it places a general gloom over your mind. It’s disheartening, and I know we’ve all been there. However, haven’t you ever been having an absolutely terrible day and encountered someone who’s just irritatingly happy? How do you react to that? Well, you can either fight them or join them, but you can’t be indifferent to them. But here’s the truth of the matter, it’s easier to be drawn down into someone’s despair than lifted into someone’s joy...because we’re sinful by nature. Which is all the more reason for us to rejoice together. One joyful person in a room of Debbie Downers is an irritant. An entire congregation fueled by the joy of Christ is absolutely contagious--and something you’ll want to catch.

And we cannot miss out on the focus and source of our joy. This is not just circumstantial happiness, but a joy rooted in knowing Jesus. Charles Spurgeon put it like this, “Joy in the Lord is the cure for all discord.... Joy in the Lord is one of the best preparations for the trials of this life. The cure for care is joy in the Lord!”

Forebear Gently- 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The word translated reasonableness in the ESV is a hard one for Biblical translators to narrow down. In fact, most of the time it’s used in the New Testament, it is translated as gentleness. The idea behind this word is probably best expressed as gentle forbearance. “The Greek word denotes the generous spirit that rises above offenses, or a forbearing spirit, of which Jesus provides the supreme example (2 Cor. 10:1). Such a person does not insist on his rights (2:1–4).” (Reformation Study Bible). Remember the beatitudes? “9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” This verse commands us to let our forbearance be known to everyone.  I think these concepts are all interconnected. In facing trials, we don’t need to get so wrapped up in getting what we want. Rather, we should be peacemakers, and then people will know we’re God’s.

This is so much like what we talked about last week, but I won’t rehash that here. We need to be like Jesus so the world can see Him.

Pray Thankfully- The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  There are a couple points to make here.

Compassion≠Anxiety- This verse starts by telling us not to be anxious, which does not mean “don’t care about things”. If we love as Jesus has commanded us to love, we will care. However, there is a difference between compassion and anxiety. I know I’ve quoted this before, but it’s good, so I’ll say it again. My little grandma had a ton of pictures hanging on her walls. Behind her rocking chair/glider in the kitchen was one that said something like this: “Worry is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but doesn’t get you anywhere.” Being anxious is concern without trust. It tears you up inside and makes you unbearable on the outside, therefore accomplishing the exact opposite of everything else in this verse. Never will it be beneficial to face a trial by adding to the trial.

Pray about everything- Nonetheless, worry is natural, so we’re given a response to worry, not just an admonition not to do it. Don’t worry, pray...about everything. Again, I wish we could camp out here longer. The idea is that nothing is too small too bring before God. So, instead of being burdened by the concerns of this life, whatever they may be, bring them to the Lord, who is “at hand”.

Pray with thanksgiving- And lastly, here we see an instruction on the nature of this prayer. When it says pray thankfully, it does not mean “pray and when you get what you want, say thank you.” The attitude of our prayers should be expectant gratitude. We may not always get what we want, or think we need, but we should still be grateful. Why? I love Tim Keller’s paraphrase of Romans 8:28 (28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.) He essentially says, ‘God will give you what you would have asked for if you knew everything He knows.’ If I would have gotten everything I was asking for when I was 16, I never would have been preaching in this pulpit, and never would have been able to work with all these youth here. In fact, if I only got what I asked for when I was 16, I probably would never done anything because I was so incredibly shortsighted and egotistical. I think most of my prayers were… “Ok God, please don’t let me do that again.” But we can and should come to God with thanksgiving when we pray knowing that He’s working out the answer in a way far better than we ever could have formulated.

3. THEN HIS PEACE WILL GUARD OUR HEARTS AND MINDS

So, that is the formula. Here’s the result: 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Two thoughts here, then we’ll close.

Peace Inside and Out- The nature of this peace is twofold. First, it’s spiritual. That is, we will literally have the peace of God within us-the Holy Spirit working within the lives of His people. Yet, the effect of this peace inside is a peace outside. Not only does this give you the strength to endure a hostile world, but it unites the Church. Remember Euodia [You-au-dia] and Syntyche [Sun-tuk-hey]? If they both are rejoicing, forbearing, and praying in the Lord, what happens to their conflict? You want peace within the Body of Christ? Then let the whole congregation be living with the peace of God guarding their hearts and minds.

Guarding Hearts & Minds- And that brings us to this last observation. The word guarding is literally the word for a garrison--troops stationed in a town or fortress to defend it. So literally this says, rejoice continually, forebear gently, pray thankfully, and the Peace of God will form a garrison around your heart (emotions--what you feel) and mind (thoughts--what you think). Is that not an encouragement in the midst of trials?

TAKEAWAYS:

1. What is disrupting your peace? Lay it at Jesus’ feet.
2. Are you rejoicing continually, forbearing gently, and praying thankfully? Examine your life.
3. Are you resting in His garrison of peace? Because you can.

Good resources:

Piper: Look in the Book

Spurgeon: Joy is a Duty

Spurgeon: Prayer, The Cure for Care