Sermon March 26, 2006

This week I am beginning a new series based on the Songs of Ascents (Psalms 120-134). Much of the foder for this series comes from Eugene Peterson's book A Long Obedience in the Same Direction which is based on these psalms. I highly recommend the book.

The Journey
The First Step
Psalm 120

Introduction: Some people like to travel and others don’t. Since we returned from Japan several people have said, “How can you stand the long plane ride?” Every journey has its difficulties and challenges as well as its joys and rewards. This week we begin a series about our journey toward God.

The texts that we will be looking at are the Songs of Ascents, Psalms 120-134. These Psalms have been grouped together and were probably used by Jewish pilgrims as they made the journey to Jerusalem and the temple. They were psalms of the journey. I hope as we look at them they will also become psalms of our journey to God.

I. Where We Begin
Distress. That is where the psalmist begins and where we begin also. We live in a world full of lies and violence and so did the psalmist. You would think after over 2000 more years of history things would have changed. “Save me from lying lips and deceitful tongues” is his prayer and we can easily pray the same thing. We seem to live in a world where any kind of truth is under attack, that distortion and “spin doctors” rule the day. It is hard not to become cynical about everything and everyone.

The psalmist was distressed by the violence also. People want war; they hate peace he writes. The psalmist refers to two places, Meshech and Kedar. These were two very distant places beyond the edges of civilization and was a poetic way of saying I live among pagans and barbarians. The psalmist was not in a good place.

I’m a fairly optimistic person and look for good in the world and find it most of the time. But even I have to say the world is not a good place. One of the advantages of living outside the US is that for over 20 years we did not have to experience the US political season. We know that after the mid-term election this fall the presidential campaigns will begin in earnest for the next two years. Let’s all groan together. It is so . . . distressing. I tire of the half- truths, slander, innuendo, the spinning and slanting, the hidden agendas that infect every aspect of our news and media. It is a brutal war that in some ways is worse than the physical violence that surrounds us.

We live in a world where people always seem to be looking for a fight, quick to take offense, to defend my rights even if it tramples yours. Each week brings stories that just make us shake our head. This past week it was a man in Ohio who killed a young teen for walking on his grass. Next week it will be something just as outrageous. We see violence against children, women, the poor, and the aged. Even for an optimist it is too much; I don’t like this world we live in.
Of course, it is not just the world ‘out there’ that is the problem; it is the world ‘in here,’ in my heart. It is so easy to locate our problems outside ourselves but if we are really honest it is our own hearts and minds. Jesus understood that the sin, lies, and violence are generated in human hearts (Mark 7:21). In our distress we cry out, “Save me, O Lord!” Save us from a world filled with deceit, hatred, and violence. Save us from ourselves.

II. The First Step
I don’t know when pilgrims read this psalm. Maybe it was before they set a foot outside their door. But the psalm points out something critical for us to understand; you won’t start the journey if you are happy where you are. You won’t start the journey if you really don’t want to meet God face to face. We begin the journey because we are dissatisfied with the way things are in the world and in our lives. But once we come to this realization where do we go?

The first word of the gospel is “repent”. It was the first word of John the Baptist, Matthew 3:1. It was Jesus’ first word to be preached, Matthew 4:17. It was Peter’s first word in proclaiming how to respond to the gospel, Acts 2:38. Repentance is the first step on the journey. Without it we step out the door, wander around and come back to where we began. A journey should take us some place new and different from where we began.

Repentance is a ‘no’ word, a denial word and that makes it a word people don’t like. It is not a feeling of sorrow for our sins (though sorrow is a feeling we do experience with sin). Repentance is a decision we make about what we are doing, where we are going, and where we want to end up. Repentance is the realization that if I keep doing and thinking the same old things I am going to keep getting the same old results, lies and violence. Repentance is deciding to follow Jesus, to be his disciple, to follow his path.

Any time we change there is pain involved. There is a humbling of our spirit in repentance that is painful. It hurts to admit we are wrong, sinful, and weak. How painful was it for Saul of Tarsus to admit he was a murderer and rebel against the God he thought he was honoring? How painful was it for Peter to admit he was wrong in his prejudice against the non-Jew?
It hurts to walk away from things that are comfortable and easy, even if they are deadly. Changing ingrained habits of body and mind are struggles no matter who you are. People who have quit smoking know how painful it is to change that habit. Our minds can recycle old angers, bitter thoughts, and self-defeating attitudes. The lies the world tells us, the lies we tell ourselves are difficult to leave. The pain of change means leaving what is, in order to gain what is of ultimate worth.

Jesus tells us the truth about ourselves. We are fallen; we are sinners, but we are of incalculable worth to God and by His grace He has given us another way. It is the way of discipleship. It is a journey that will take us into the very presence of God.

Here in the United States we could probably make the case that almost all of us have immigrant roots, our ancestors came from somewhere else whether it was Europe, Africa, or Asia. Why did they come? For many the journey was difficult and dangerous. They came because where they were was oppressive. Some came for religious freedom, others for economic opportunities, and other to escape repression. Those immigrant stories are part of the story of America. We are here because they suffered the journey. They risked their lives for hope and a chance at a better life.

For the psalmist, as he began his journey to Jerusalem there was a realization that he must leave where he was. We must come to that realization also. If we like where we are, the life we have, we will never make the journey.

I have been on my journey for over 40 years. It began with repentance and it continues with it also. I haven’t found a place I want to stop short of the goal of God’s presence. The journey is always saying “no” to something in order to say “yes” to what is of the highest ultimate worth. I pray that you will join us in the journey.


Livonia Church of Christ: March 26, 2006