December 28, 2008
Morning Worship
Text: Psalm 40:1-10
Subject: Trusting in God
Title: Reshaping Your Spiritual Plans
Here we are at the end of another year. Most of you will agree with me that it seems as though the time goes faster and faster. I don’t know about the rest of you but at the end of the year I like to pause and look back and take in the past 12 months and then see if there is anything I can do differently in the next year to better myself or to change the direction the church is going in order to make it better. That means that if I see something or the Lord desires something different from me I must be willing to change. For many the idea of change is difficult – sometimes too difficult to cope with. For us here today the idea of change may be less palatable simply because we just came through a political campaign where all we heard about was change. But, for others change is something we welcome with open arms.
A man from the Tennessee mountains found himself one day in a large city, for the first time standing outside an elevator. He watched as an old, haggard woman hobbled on, and the doors closed. A few minutes later the doors opened and a young, attractive woman marched smartly off. The father hollered to his youngest son, "Billy, go get mom."
What I want to share with you today is a biblical concept of change – not necessarily a change in your actions as much as a change in your perceptions. Who is God? Who are you? What is it that God wants for you? My guess is that most of us have basically been doing the same things in our relationship with God for many years because we have found that it works for us. Is that good or bad? I don’t think it is either.
Let’s look at Psalm 40 today to see if there is anything new that the Lord would desire for your life.
I. WAITING FOR GOD TO GIVE YOU NEW DIRECTION. (1-3) The first thing David tells us in this Psalm is what his attitude was toward hearing from God. 1I waited patiently for the LORD… and then what God’s attitude is toward you when you seek Him. …He turned to me and heard my cry. Why was David crying out to God? What was going on in his life that caused him to seek God? He found himself in what he considered to be a slimy pit. The KJV describes it as a horrible pit. Let’s look at those two words. Slimy or horrible literally mean destruction. Pit refers to a cistern. David found himself in a place of destruction with no way out. The only thing you can do in a cistern is to look up. God’s response to David was this. 2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. You know King David’s history. He was a man after God’s own heart, yet he continually operated out of his own wisdom rather than following God’s plan for his life. It eventually placed him in grave physical danger as his son sought to overthrow the government and make himself king. So when verse 2 says that God set David’s feet on a solid rock what is that referring to? Most would say that is referring to Jesus. Even though this was before the birth of Jesus, He has always been the Rock of our salvation. I think that it is more than that. I think the solid rock refers to your understanding of who Jesus is and who you are in your relationship with Him. I believe that is something that is in a continual state of change – or at least should be. Do you remember back in Matthew 16 when Jesus asked the disciples who people said that He was? And then He asked, “Who do you say I am?” Peter’s answered Him, “You are the Messiah or the Christ, the son of the Living God.” Peter’s understanding of Jesus’ nature was in a state of change. Look at how Jesus then responded to Peter. 17Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Contrary to other church beliefs, the rock that Jesus was going to build His church upon was not Peter, but on Peter’s ability to receive a revelation from God concerning the nature of Christ. It was about his confession. It was about being willing to hear from God. Romans 12:2, Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. I want you to understand this. God desires to reveal Himself to you in a new and refreshing way on a daily basis. But this new revelation is not something that is outside the scriptures. It will always line up with scripture and more often will come from the scriptures. Now back in verse 2, 2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire… Could it be that David had mired himself into a rut of the same old same old? Could it be that David’s own spiritual failings came because he kept doing what he had always been doing without seeking a change in direction that would take him to new places in God? Madame Chiang Kai-shek once told the story of a young Buddhist monk who sat outside his temple two thousand years ago, hands clasped in prayer. He looked very pious and he chanted ’Amita Buddha’ all day. Day after day he intoned these words, believing that he was acquiring grace. One day the head priest of the temple sat next to him and began rubbing a piece of brick against a stone. Day after day he rubbed one against the other. This went on week after week until the young monk could no longer contain his curiosity, and he finally blurted out, "Father, what are you doing?" "I’m trying to make a mirror," said the head priest. "But that’s impossible!" said the young monk. "You can’t make a mirror from brick." "True," replied the head priest. "And it is just as impossible for you to acquire grace by doing nothing except chant ’Amita Buddha’ all day long." Bits & Pieces, April 1990, p. 12. Once David began to look to God for direction He set his feet on the solid rock. When that happened a change began to take place in David. 3 He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Notice that when God gave David a new song He didn’t just put it in his heart to keep inside. He put it in his mouth to be sung. Jump down to verse 9, I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly; I do not seal my lips, as you know, O LORD. 10 I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and salvation. I do not conceal your love and your truth from the great assembly. When God gave David revelation He didn’t keep it to himself. He told everyone else about who God is. When God begins to take you in a new direction and change takes place something else happens. People will notice. Go back to the last part of verse 3, Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD. Waiting on God doesn’t just change your life. It affects those around you.
II. TRUSTING IN THE LORD IS A SPIRITUAL WORK. 4 Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods. Do you know that God wants to bless you with every promise that He Has given? As a matter of fact He has already done it. He is just waiting for you to receive it. That happens when you trust in the Lord and not in yourself. Turn over quickly to Romans 8:5. I want you to look at a couple of concepts here to help you understand why we do not always receive God’s promises. 5Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. There are two forces at work in this passage; the sinful nature and the Spirit. The sinful nature stems from soul of a man. That is the non - physical part of a man that is a part from the body. It is who you are – your mind, your emotions, your personality. We tend to think that when we talk about living according to the sinful nature we are referring to doing things that are against the commands of God. But when we operate out of the soul we are operating out of self – the place where the sinful nature abides. So even though we are making every attempt to live according to God’s word, in essence we are trying to do it out of self, or the soul (GR. Psuche) But you see, Paul says that when we are trying to live in a right way by doing what seems right we are depending on the sinful nature and end up doing what that nature desires. Now look at the last part of that verse; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. This is in reference to the Holy Spirit. If you are walking in the Spirit (Gr. Pneuma) as opposed to the flesh (soul or psuche) you have your mind set on spiritual things. Go on down to Romans 8:16, 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. So when we ask questions like, “What do I have to do to be healed?” or “How can I receive all the promises of God?”, what we are doing is asking how can we receive spiritual (pneuma) promises while operating in the natural or soul (Psuche). The answer is – you can’t. Since the promises, the blessings of God are spiritual in nature, you have to receive them in your spirit man first. When we can do that those spiritual promises – signs and wonders and miracles – will begin to spill out into your natural man on a regular basis. Go back to Psalm 40:5. Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare. Why do you think that all the wonderful miracles of God, that He worked through men and even through Jesus, are recorded in the bible? 1) To give you a more in depth view of God’s nature. 2) To increase your faith. Faith comes by hearing the word of God. 3) So you can know that those same things are available to you. James 1:17, Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. The Bible says that God is no respecter of persons. What He has done for one He will do for another. So if this same God was a healing God in the Bible what kind of God do you think He is today? I He was a providing God in the Bible what kind of God is He today? If He was a blessing God in the Bible what kind of God is HE today?
III. SUBMITTING TO GOD TAKES PLACE IN THE SPIRIT. So how do we receive those promises? How do we get to the point where our spirit man takes over as the dominant feature in our spiritual walk? The first thing is you have to stop trying to please God in the things you do. 6 Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced; burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require. The word “pierced” (my ears you have pierced) is probably better translated as in the KJV as “opened”. Keep that in mind. Look at the things that don’t please God; sacrifice, offering, burnt offerings, sin offerings. The things that you try to do to please God don’t. There is only one way to please Him and that is through a relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. Now look at that verse again. Right in the middle of the things that God doesn’t desire is the statement, “but, my ears you have pierced (opened). Why is that in there? It is there as a contrast against the things that don’t please God. It is the one thing that does. Ears are opened so they can hear what the Spirit is saying to the church. It is talking about spiritual ears. Go back to Romans 10:17. Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. The NKJV says, 17So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. When we read that verse we tend to think that faith comes by hearing the words from the Bible. That should be true. That is why the words are there, to be an encouragement to you. But the words from the Bible are “logos” the general word of God from Genesis to Revelation. The whole Bible is about Jesus who is the “logos” of God. But the word in Romans 10:17 is not the “logos” but is “rhema” or an utterance. Dr. Paul Hong Gi Cho of south Korea, the pastor of the largest church in the world, says, that rhema is, a specific, word, to a specific person, in a specific situation. So what the apostle Paul meant in Romans is that faith comes by hearing what the Holy Spirit is saying to you in every situation. Logos is given to everyone in order that they may come to have a better understanding of the nature of God. Logos, (the Bible) is intended to increase your faith to receive “rhema”. That is why David wrote, “My ears you have opened.” It is a spiritual awakening that is waiting to happen in your life. Verses 7-8, Then I said, “Here I am, I have come— it is written about me in the scroll. 8 I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.” “Law” refers to the Word of God – the OT. The law was intended to give us a general knowledge of God’s nature. That is why we hide God’s word in our hearts (spirit). But look at the submission that is spoken of here, Here I am, I have come, 8 I desire to do your will… waiting to hear from God. We often respond to the Logos by operating in the Psuche or soul. But we respond to the Rhema by operating in the Pneuma or spirit.
Our life in Christ can be compared to an aqueduct, the stone waterways that brought water from nearby mountains into parched cities in Italy and Spain, and that are still used in some countries today. The objective foundation of our spiritual lives, the Word of God, is like the huge stone aqueduct itself. The subjective elements, our daily experience of Christ, is like the fresh water flowing through it.
Some Christians neglect the Word and seek only the subjective experience. But without the solid Word of God to contain and channel that experience, the experience itself drains away into error and is lost.
Other Christians boast well-engineered aqueducts based on extensive knowledge of the Bible, but they are bone dry. They bring no refreshment. Strong spiritual lives require both a strong knowledge of the Word of God and an intimate daily relationship with Christ. John H. Morgan.
Now I have to ask you, “Do you have that kind of balance in your life? Are you taking the time to hear a Rhema from God to see what direction He would have you move in? Or are you bound to the Logos only operating within yourself by trying to please God by obeying the law?”
I want to ask you today to strive to walk according to the Spirit. Allow the Logos to become spiritual to you so that when the Rhema comes you can have the faith to accept it. Open your spirit to receive every logos promise the word gives us.
What direction does God have for you in 2009?
Are you ready to reshape your spiritual plans?
