Preserved, Not Pickled

PRESERVED, NOT PICKLED

Ps. 121:1-8

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR

1. Week after week, a man came to his preacher with a big problem. He said, “When I go to bed, I can’t sleep because I’m afraid of monsters under my bed. I know it’s silly, but I can’t help it.”

2. His preacher recommended prayer, reading the Bible, singing hymns, keeping the lights on, but nothing worked.

3. One Sunday the man came to church happy and well rested. He told his preacher that he got help from his friend the carpenter.

4. The preacher asked, “What did he tell you to do?” The man said, “He told me just to cut the legs off my bed!” I guess that took care of his monster problem!

5. Where do you go for help in life? When you’re up against something you can’t handle? Where do you turn for help?

B. TEXT: PSALM 121:1-8

1 I lift up my eyes to the hills— where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber; 4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The LORD watches over you— the LORD is your shade at your right hand; 6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The LORD will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; 8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

C. THESIS

1. As a little boy, I remember going to my grandfather’s house in Waco, where he lived with his sister out on a farm. Aunt Bess was one to put up fruit and vegetables in jars. Looking in her storage cupboard one day I asked, “What’s that?” She pointed out the various items of vegetables or fruit and said, “This jar is preserves and these jars are pickled.”

2. I discovered that the words pickled and preserved are used interchangeably, but there’s a big difference! Ask an old country person and they’ll say, “Preserves are sweet and things pickled are sour.”

3. Today we’re talking about God’s preserving power. It’s wonderful if we’re preserved unto the end as Christians, but God also cares how we are during the process: are we sweet or sour?

4. Some Christians have been described as “baptized in pickle juice” because they’re bitter, judgmental, unhappy, a long face, or negative attitudes. Who would want to be a Christian if that were the perception?

5. God wants us as Christians to get sweeter as we go through our journey of life, not increasingly sour.

6. It’s amazing how some people have gone through terrible experiences – such as Nazi prison camps – and still be sweet, while others can have a fairly prosperous life and yet be bitter people.

7. Much of the time it’s an attitude we decide to adopt! If we cultivate a thankful attitude, then even the little things we get are appreciated and a thankful soul is a happy soul.

8. God’s intention is for us to be sweetening agents rather than sour agents. The title of this message is “Preserved, Not Pickled.”

I. GOD: THE REAL SOURCE OF POWER (1-2)

A. LOOKING FOR HELP

1. When we get into trouble, it’s natural to start looking for help.

*We get loans for financial help

*Call the Police for criminal help

*Hire Lawyers for legal help

*See a Doctor for physical help

*Visit a Psychiatrist for mental help

*and Marriage counselors for marital help, etc.

So when do we need God?

2. What do we do when we get in a pinch? Do we take our problems to God or try to deal with them ourselves?

B. CHOOSING THE RIGHT “HILL”

1. When the Psalmist says, “I lift my eyes to the hills…”, he was looking over the many different sources of help available to him; but the key thought is, that He chooses the Lord exclusively and rejects other sources as ineffectual.

2. He highlights the extreme difference between God and other sources by adding, “The Maker of heaven and earth”. Wow! What a difference.

II. THE CAREFULNESS OF GOD’S PROTECTION (3-4)

A. THE PILGRIM’S DANGEROUS JOURNEY

1. THE BACKGROUND of this passage is that during Old Testament times, pilgrims had to travel great distances over rugged terrain to get to Jerusalem for the holy feast days 3X a year.

2. There were many dangers along the way; thieves & bandits, no water, snakes, cliffs & ravines, mountain lions and other wild animals, to name a few.

3. God begins Vs. 3 by promising to protect them (& us) from even the least of mishaps – even the slipping of their foot! That must have been a wonderful encouragement to them.