00:00:00 We are today going to cover Psalm 103. It\'s a long long passage, but um when I heard that in the in the passage there\'s like renew your youth like an eagle, I was like, \"Oh, I need that. [laughter] I need I need energy as a as an older parent, you know.\" Um, so Psalm 103, if you were here last time I was here about a month ago, um, one of the things that I like to look for is to see if Old Testament passages are covered in the New Testament. That\'s that excites me. I don\'t know. 00:00:37 Everyone\'s got their thing, I guess. To me, that\'s kind of like I wonder how Paul thought about this passage and how did he weave in the gospel story into u using those passages. And so I looked and unfortunately Psalm 103 is not one of them. Um so then what do we do with it? Right? Um so then I um recalled a class that I took on on Psalms and um there\'s this way of old actually let me say that poetry poetry in the Old Testament right um not my strength my wife will tell you she complains sometimes that I I\'m not 00:01:24 poetic enough right um so really it\'s it\'s a a struggle looking at the psalm But I was taught how to do it. And here\'s what you look for. There are uh if you see something where the beginning of the text has some similarity to the end of the text, right? that that is sort of like a signal that oh hey there\'s a style of writing where they will write the author of the poem poem will write something in the beginning and the end that are parallel and then they\'ll go to the next one and then that one will be parallel 00:02:04 to the one above that and then the next one will be parallel to the one above that and so it stacks and stacks and stacks and eventually you end up with what the middle And this idea of the style is that what happens is the middle part is the main point. It\'s the part that the author has some something important to say that you really want to focus there. And so especially when you have a passage like 103, which is rather rather long. Um and you see uh in the beginning, praise the Lord, oh my soul. Praise the Lord. And 00:02:43 then at the end you see praise the Lord oh um all ye all his heavenly hosts the praise the lord in the beginning praise the lord at the end for me that was like hey I remember I got to look for this what is the main point what\'s the center point so that\'s what I did and looked I looked for that uh pattern and uh I\'ll share with you what I found um and hopefully that will that will inspire ire us to uh in our faith as we journey together in faith. Right. So let\'s put Psalm is there a Psalm 103? Can we just throw 00:03:23 that up there? Yeah. Right. Perfect. Let\'s do that. Um I\'ve tried to highlight the the the sections that caught my attention. So as I mentioned earlier, if you look at uh verses 1 to all the way up to let\'s say uh six. So there is this the author is saying praise the lord. Praise the lord for all these things and and I won\'t read them. You can you can read them what he\'s praising him for. And then verses 20 21 and 22 there are praises as well. Okay. So we we start and we end with praising 00:04:00 the Lord. And here\'s some of the things that uh he\'s praising him for. For forgiveness of sins, for healing of diseases, for redemption of life, satisfying your desires with good things. These are all praiseworthy things. We we ought to praise God for these things. Okay? But there\'s more. the author wants us to keep going because the way it\'s structured is let\'s let\'s let\'s keep digging and get get to the get to the center point of of this particular psalm. So then if we go to verse six, you\'ll 00:04:37 notice that um oh goodness highlight right there. Perfect. Verse six says, \"The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel. And if you go to verse 17, the second half, he says, \"His righteousness with their children\'s children, with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.\" Do you see how they\'re parallel? There\'s this righteousness of his people. There\'s righteousness of Moses and the covenant, 00:05:12 right? So there\'s this righteousness piece that\'s the next parallel level, right? That\'s for me it\'s like, oh, that\'s this is exciting. I think I think we\'re on to something here. There\'s there\'s that structure that\'s guiding how we how we view this. And then we go farther down. We go all the way down to uh verse 11. In verse 11, it says,\"For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him.\" Hey, look at verse 17. The first half of 00:05:52 17, the first half of 17 says, \"But from everlasting to everlasting, the Lord\'s love is with those who fear him.\" Hey, right. Verse 11 says, \"So great is his love for those who fear him.\" And verse 17 says, \"The Lord\'s love is with those who fear him.\" You see the parallel, right? So we got three levels. We got the first one that I mentioned and the second. Now the third one, we\'re getting closer and closer to the center. That\'s very exciting for me. I don\'t know. It\'s 00:06:28 kind of a cool thing. Now, here\'s where here\'s where it\'s like, uhoh, I got a problem here. [snorts] Because um you get now to what\'s left is what verses 12- 16. And um according to the internet, [laughter] at least parts of the internet, um it says that according to the internet, it says that the center of Psalm 103 is verse 12. Okay, you see where the problem is? The the question you have to ask is, is verse 12 the center of Psalm 103? Because, let me read Psalm uh 103:12. It says, \"As far as the east is from the 00:07:18 west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.\" Which, Christian speaking, that\'s a beautiful verse to land, right? we ought to want to land there. I think part of me is like, \"Oh, that\'s perfect.\" Uh, you know, we could talk about the gospel. We could talk about Jesus. We could talk about forgiveness of sin. That\'s that\'s where we should land, right? But if you look at what\'s left, verses 12- 16, that\'s quite a long section. And the question is, is verse 12 really the 00:07:49 center? That\'s what I was asking. Is verse 12 really the center? Well, what\'s interesting about verse 12 is it says, \"As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.\" Meaning, our sins are pushed so far away from us somehow by God that they\'re kind of like essentially wiped away. Right? That\'s what 12 is saying. And then you look at verse 15 and 16 and verse 15 and 16 says the life of mortals is like grass. We who are mortal, we\'re like grass. How is that? 00:08:38 Our life is like grass is because we flourish like a flower of the field. Every season these flowers bloom and then in verse 16 says the wind blows over it and our life is gone and the place where the flowers grew remembers it no more. Isn\'t that true? Like right we we live our life um we hope we accomplish something. We hope you know we get to see and experience life. But the reality is in the grand scheme of things, the years that we are here on life, it\'s just comes and goes. And the place that we 00:09:25 flourished in at one point, it\'s quick to forget. That\'s kind of tragic, but that\'s kind of how it is, right? Um, and it dawned on me that in some way there\'s a parallel between 12 and 15 and 16. And God when he forgives, he pushes the sin way way over here and it\'s remembered no more. But 15 and 16 is also saying the glory that we have achieved in this life in the years that we live here also it is no more. It is forgotten. And so that kind of bothered me not just because of this whole idea of you know 00:10:08 our you know our accomplishments in the big scheme of things are kind of small but it also also bothered me because like well wait a minute there is a parallel between 12 and 15 and 16. So, in some way, as uncomfortable as it makes me, cuz you know, we don\'t want to argue with the internet. Um, you know, 12, I don\'t know if it\'s the center, right? And then you look, okay, so then what\'s left? What\'s left is verse 13 and 14. Verse 13 and 14 of Psalm 103. Is that the center? It\'s kind of a weird center. 00:10:47 Um, I\'ll read it to you. Psalm 103:13:14. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. For he knows how we are formed, and he remembers that we are dust. Right? From a from a Christian perspective, 12 has more power, has more, you know, it\'s the redemption. It\'s the blood of Jesus. It\'s the the reason we are able to do church. It\'s forgiveness of sin. It\'s 13 or 14. Is that does that sound like a center to you? As a father has compassion on his 00:11:37 children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. For he knows how we are formed and he remembers that we are dust. So I went down this exercise of what if it is the center? What does that mean? What if what does that mean? You know it means that the reference first of all is is to what? Genesis, right? Genesis uh early in Genesis chapter chapter 27. I think I have it on one of the slides. Uh it\'s when God I\'ll read it to you. 2:7 The Lord God formed the man of dust out of dust from the ground 00:12:19 and he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living person. That\'s the the account written of how uh Adam came to be, right? Dust. From a pile of dust from the ground, life somehow is breathed into this pile of dust and from it a human being, Adam. You know, had you asked me this three years ago? Like, is this the center? [laughter] Like, maybe 12\'s a better one from a speaking perspective, from a church perspective. Um, but now as JP mentioned, you know, like I got kids, you know, I got I got 00:13:11 little ones like um and it\'s interesting uh when I tell my wife this all the time. It\'s like usually it\'s when I\'m changing the diapers, okay? you know, we split the duties of changing the diapers and you\'re looking at this uh our second one, you know, you\'re looking into this this wiggly blob of person, you know, [laughter] and you\'re like there\'s this sense of I want to say I don\'t know if the word is tragic, but those of you who, you know, bear with me, those of you who are parents, I 00:13:51 like um maybe you understand. It\'s like this this little guy, he um he can\'t do much. Like what what does he do really? You know, he he cries, he eats, he can\'t talk, he doesn\'t he can\'t code, he you he can\'t do like practically speaking, it\'s just it\'s tragic, [laughter] you know. Um, but he\'s mine. Like he\'s I look at him I look at my other one too and it\'s like gosh especially, you know, when when there are times where you\'re just like and you look and you go somehow there\'s a 00:14:36 there\'s a reflection of me in this kid, you know, and you go, \"Huh, okay. I\'ll I\'ll I\'ll live through the I\'ll work through the tragedy, you know. Um, so yeah, there\'s something there that\'s pretty deep. Not that the redemption part isn\'t deep, but we want to jump to the redemption part, but we almost forget the story of the beauty of God. I mean, it\'s right there in the passage. God the father has compassion on his children like he made his children in his image and even 00:15:20 though they are dust like a pile of dirt he breathed life into them and somehow in the tragedy of us you know God sees us like probably like h what do you do really you know, okay, I know you went to school. I know you got a good job. You, you know, you live in a nice place, some of us, right? Okay. Yeah, some of us could code. Okay, but really in the grand scheme of things, what who who are you really? We\'re we\'re one amongst billions, right? And yet God the Father, he looks at us and says, \"You are 00:16:08 made in my image.\" I think we underestimate the value of that. Like that is a beautiful thing because he knows that we are tragic. He knows in verse 14, he knows how we are formed and he remembers that we are dust. It\'s not like he doesn\'t know that. And yet he still loves us. And is because of that, I think that he\'s like, you know what? As tragic as you are, as broken as you are, [snorts] I love you so much that I\'m not just going to let you, what\'s the word? fall to who you are. 00:16:59 And so the the redemptive story is made even more beautiful because if we understand how God sees us, then you go, that\'s a beautiful thing that he he did in verse 12 allow for our sins to be removed. Yes, but it is because of the way he sees you and me. And we forget that sometimes. We\'re so, I think, maybe quick to focus on the redemptive story, but then we forget the love story behind that. Right? So anyways, I\'m I\'m going to I\'m going to stick to my guns for [laughter] this 00:17:44 passage anyways and say, you know, 13 and 14, I think at least for this week, is the center of Psalm 103, right? But then what do we do with that? How how does that then shape when we leave here? What is what is what what do we go with? Um and so if this dust idea that we are dust and that who we are in this life is is um I mean some of us some of you um [snorts] you know especially the young folks here well educated supportive parents you\'re going you\'re going to go far in this world you know I think 00:18:25 that\'s a great thing you know some of you can be doctors lawyers engineers start your companies, whatnot, Silicon Valley stuff, right? And that\'s all great. At the end of the day though, we are all dust, right? And some of us, you know, we\'ll we\'ll live long lives, but in the grand scheme of things, it\'s it\'s just a a flash of time, right? So, we\'re reminded of that in the passage. But God did breathe life into us. And so that that is the concept of physical and spiritual. There\'s 00:19:10 something there. There\'s part of us that is the physical, the dust, and then there\'s the breath of life that comes from God that makes us different somehow. And I think it\'s important to understand that interplay and it when it comes to how we set our dreams and aspirations, what we pursue after um to understand that relationship and what happens after this body of ours fails and and what\'s left what what happens what happens to us after that, you You know that that\'s an important 00:19:56 question. A lot of humanity has been spent debating trying to figure that out, right? And we call ourselves Christians. We we\'ve landed in one place that distinguishes us and and we and this is what we tell our friends and those around us. We we proclaim that, right? It\'s like, well, here\'s here\'s an idea. Here\'s an idea of what we believe, you know, and some people embrace it. Some people reject it. Okay, fine. But this this is what we believe. So I\'m going to now look at um 00:20:31 fast forward to uh New Testament and hold on to this idea of spirit and dust, right? Um, in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, the Apostle Paul, and he has some pretty amazing insights inspired by God to to kind of lay out what what\'s what\'s going on. And he touches on this duality of our being, of our physical and our spiritual, and what happens and where where it goes. And so in 1 Corinthians 15 50- 58 and I\'m not I\'m not going to be able to with in the time we have to to kind of dig into all there\'s a lot in there 00:21:19 trust me. Okay. Uh but let\'s just kind of read through it together. And um [snorts] you\'ll you\'ll notice there\'s a theme there of the physical and the spiritual and what he believes uh is is is happening. And at the end there\'s an action item and that\'s where we\'re going to try to try to land today. All right. So Paul writes, \"Now I say this brothers and sisters that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.\" 00:21:52 So there we have flesh and blood, our physical nature, the dust of which we are created, cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. This idea that there is two worlds. There\'s a physical world and there is a spiritual world. One is perishable, the physical and then one is imperishable. But this physical being cannot inherit that which is imperishable which is permanent forever and ever and ever. Whatever we do in this life, we you know this that saying you can\'t you can\'t 00:22:30 take it with you, right? And this is kind of like this idea like you leave behind, you leave it behind to your kids, your friends, wherever, the government, you can\'t take it with you. There\'s a part of you that spirit world, that\'s the imperishable part. But whatever it is that we have that\'s perishable, it cannot inherit the imperishable. And then Paul writes, \"Behold,\" in verse 51, \"Behold, I am telling you a mystery. Uh, we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed 00:23:02 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable. This is a he\'s saying this is what\'s going to happen. This is like I\'m telling you this um you have to um trust that what I\'m saying is inspired. That\'s what Paul basically is like declaring this, okay? That in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, there will be a trumpet that sounds and at that moment the dead, meaning the physical dead will be raised as imperishable 00:23:47 and put on immortality, life forever. There\'s a time that is coming where this trumpet will sound and those who have died, the physical has failed, but somehow they will be lifted back to life forever. And in verse 53, he says, \"For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable puts on the imperishable and this mortal puts on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, \"Death has been swallowed up in victory.\" Where, O death 00:24:26 is your victory? Where, O death is your sting? In that moment, see, in this life, someone dies, they go away. They\'re gone. They\'re they\'re out of the picture. And he\'s saying that actually in this uh scenario that he\'s painting even those who are killed and they die they will come back somehow through some miracle and be imperishable. You can\'t kill him again. You can\'t kill this raised life. And this is where death has a limited victory. In the moment that the person 00:25:17 dies, yes, death wins because that physical body is gone. They\'re they\'re back to dust again. But somehow Paul says that that victory is limited because in the moment of the trumpet those who have died will be raised back to life. And he says in verse 56, the sting of death is sin. The power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. And I don\'t I don\'t want to gloss over that, but in that moment where he says, \"Oh, death, where\'s your sting?\" Right? 00:26:00 A lot of times death is seen as a bad thing. It\'s like, \"Oh, we don\'t look forward to death because we know it\'s the end of something.\" And then there\'s also this idea that, well, if it\'s the end of something, whatever is left of us um will be judged. That\'s why a lot of people like I don\'t I don\'t want to die because there\'s a sense of what if I\'ve done not enough good things or what if I\'m not worthy of crossing the bridge into that uh immortality, 00:26:37 right? But if there is the the assurance that when we cross from death into the next, if there is an assurance that that\'s actually better and that we have assurance that we will be there, well then okay, death is inconvenient. It\'s unfortunate. It\'s uh you know those we leave behind will be sad but it is a temporary thing right because immortality is forever. And so Paul in this intricate language is is explaining the dust and the spirit of life as Paul understands it. And what it comes down to is that 00:27:27 we have victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. So yes, the gospel message is the story of redemption. Psalm 103 does point to God forgiveness, God\'s forgiveness of sin as an important factor, but it boils down to really ultimately that God, he loved what he created. like there was that compassion right Psalm 103 that that center that I called it a father has compassion on his children the word compassion is actually compassion not just compassion but there\'s mercy there\'s an element of mercy there\'s also an element 00:28:09 of pity in there there\'s this looking down on something that is beautiful but is in need of what the creator can offer. And that is the beauty of the gospel story that he provides a way for his creation for you and I to be free from our shortcomings so that we might believe in what he provided through Jesus through his sacrifice of blood that it takes our sins away and scatters it as far as the east is from the test so that our spirit will have immortality. So in that regard, Psalm 103 does have 00:29:05 the gospel even though it isn\'t quoted in New Testament, but it is a pointing to of how he will reveal himself in full. And Paul receives that insight of how it is accomplished through Jesus Christ. And so we have a a fuller picture and we are blessed because of it. Isn\'t that to me that\'s like wow. Thank you for bringing into focus how this is to be that we can hear and understand and have the opportunity to receive and be blessed. So what do we do with that then? Well, interestingly, uh Paul does provide at 00:29:53 the end of this uh of his of his section in uh 1 Corinthians uh 15 in verse 58, he he has a therefore he says in light of in other words, in light of what I\'ve just told you about this complex idea of immortal immortal mortal um he he gives uh some some guidance of what we should do. And I was encouraged to hear what your theme about the retreat was because actually this is not too [laughter] far from that. How about that? Okay. What does what does Paul write in 1 Corinthians 15:58? And he says, 00:30:32 \"Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, in in other words, in light of what I just told you about our dust, us being flesh and blood, and about the immortality that will come um at the at the trumpet sound, um what do we do?\" He says, \"Be firm, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord.\" knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Okay? Be firm, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord. Why? Knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. 00:31:20 And one thing that I don\'t know if it frustrates you, but certainly frustrates me is like doing something where I know that the effort is [sighs and gasps] wasted. like I spent the whole day doing something and it was like h did I did the wrong thing and I was like wasted my whole day right some of you I don\'t know have you ever been working on a project at work and then like a week before it gets delivered halfway through the boss comes and say sorry guys uh project\'s been cancelceled it\'s like what have I been 00:31:48 working on this whole time that\'s frustrating right it\'s like I all the weekends I spent the late night meetings and all that stuff all the conflict But h sacrifice I made with my family, you know. Now imagine a lifetime of doing something and all that energy you put into it. Imagine that kind of goes up in smoke. Can you imagine how frustrating that might be? And you devoted your life to this something. But Paul says, \"If you want your labor to not be in vain because God sees that which you do, 00:32:35 there is a way. Know that the Lord sees these things that you do.\" And even if no one around you appreciates it, even if your family doesn\'t really appreciate it, even if your kids don\'t appreciate it, God sees it and remembers it. Would that change your mind? It should. I I want I want some of the stuff I do to be remembered, you know, long after I\'m gone. You know, there\'s something, you know, like, yeah, your your kids aren\'t going to remember, but God remembers. That\'s a good thing. 00:33:21 So, what does Paul say to do? Two things. I I I said two. He\'s firm, immovable, excelling in the work of the Lord. What does that mean? And here\'s the thing. [snorts] Firm immovable means um anchored, not subject to course corrections and flowing with the like you know you hear about uh Paul say Paul says to to not be swayed so easily and being firm immovable. I think I think that\'s more on the knowing what you believe side, right? Because we are now subjected to all sorts of information at your fingertips. 00:34:11 Um, so being firm, immovable means not giving up on the pursuit of knowing the truth about God. Keep keep digging into the truth. find other people to like-minded wrestle with each other and try to figure out what is, you know, what is the truth. Um that that takes discipline, that takes perseverance, that takes other believers, it takes um energy, right? But some of us um yeah so some of us need that to put put energy into it being firm and immovable because we are too easily swayed by the currents that take us 00:35:02 wherever. But Paul also says always excelling in the work of the Lord. And the word excelling is not just like be excellent. It is a um it\'s an overflow. It\'s an abundance. It\'s like outpouring of just there\'s just a lot of it, but it\'s also excellent, but it\'s just like a lot. It\'s like it\'s not like there\'s a little little bit from time to time. But this sense of like it it oozes out of you, right, in the work of the Lord. Now, what is the work of the Lord? 00:35:38 Oh, that that\'s um between you and the Lord to figure out, you know, um you know, if I may be so bold. Um let\'s not limit our understanding of what the work of the Lord is to like what\'s here, you know. I mean, what what is doing done here is very important, don\'t get me wrong. You know, it is wonderful to see other believers. It\'s wonderful to have things that our kids can go to and you know and okay but let us not constrain the work of the Lord to what\'s here. It\'s and let\'s be overflowing with 00:36:11 it. And this is I think then the two things that Paul\'s encouraging us to do. And what I think tends to happen is we human nature tends to pick the things that\'s easy for us to do. Okay. So you know that one thing that you know you need to do back here but it\'s like I don\'t want to deal with that. That\'s too much energy. But I could do this, a lot of this. So you just tend to do a lot of this because it\'s easy. I\'m good at it. What? What? And you never get to this, right? And I think when I think about 00:36:38 firm and immovable and abundance overflowing in the work of the Lord, this is where all of us can think about God, give me the strength. Because some of us are more wired to the learning how to be firm and immovable. We we\'re wired to let\'s let\'s get to the truth. Okay, let\'s let\'s let\'s read the scriptures more. Let\'s let\'s, you know, dig into that more, more studies, more, you know, and studies are good, but then where we\'re lacking is overflowing in the work of the Lord. 00:37:14 It\'s like, okay, that\'s great. You know, a lot, but it\'s kind of not helping anybody because there\'s no outflow. And some of us are the opposite. like I love the out, you know, I I I love the work of the Lord. I I sign me up for this. Sign let me I want to do this. But then we have no foundation in or less of a foundation in being firm and immovable. And what happens is we get tired. We\'re just so caught up in the work of the Lord. And you need both. One feeds the other, one guides the other. 00:37:49 The truth is what shapes where we prioritize where our overflow is. Right? The truth is what guides what we share when we\'re doing the overflow of the Lord. Right? And so this is where we have to ask God like where where God where do I need to put the energy and trust to you and um you know do I need more truth about you? um or do I need to have more courage and to um I have enough truth for now. That\'s a weird way of saying it, but you know what I\'m saying? It\'s like another Bible study is not going to do do it for 00:38:33 me. I I need to have the courage to go out there and talk to my neighbors and love them. And I need to get out there and and be where people are at. And I need to, you know, have the courage to um let go of resources to to to to be involved in in compassion or, you know, because some that\'s for some of us that\'s just harder than getting more truth or for some of you it\'s going to be like I I need to say no to some things because I need I need to figure out more truth about what God is trying 00:39:05 to tell me. So that\'s that\'s where I end up is like um if you know that we are dust and our life yeah we got we got responsibilities in this life but at the end of the day our time is short in this life. Um but God has created a beautiful story of redemption through Jesus Christ. At the end of the day, because our time is short, Paul encourages us, you know, be firm and immovable and to overflow in the work of the Lord because when you spend time doing those two things, that\'s not in vain. 00:39:55 I pray that as a community together, we\'ll be able to encourage each other to be honest about where we need help and to encourage each other to to to go and and do these things together.