Last week we honored our mothers on Mother’s day and looked into God’s word to see how the blessing of motherhood was designed by God to reveal God’s image and ultimately to give birth the Savior of the world.
Today, let’s focus on a word from God for our Graduating class of 2015. This year our church family has six high school graduates: Sarah Baxley, Luke Bible, Brian Curtis, Kyler Kayanek, Devin Laman and Grace Stewart. Congratulations to you and to your parents and families at this achievement in life!
We are all thankful for you and seek God’s blessings on you graduates and your families as you move forward from this point in your lives. Tonight, Lord willing, we will have a special time of celebration for you and your families that Kendall has planned and put together.
This morning, as we worship together I invite you to open your Bibles to Psalm 73 for a message that reveals a spiritual educational experience of Asaph in the school of life.
So, first of all, who is Asaph? A Levite, son of Berechiah, one of the leaders of David's choir. (1 Chronicles 6:39) Psalms 50 and 73-83 are attributed to him; and he was in after times celebrated as a seer as well as a musical composer. (2 Chronicles 29:30; Nehemiah 12:46) He lived some time around 1000 B.C. Think of it. We get to hear from a writer of Psalms and a priest who lived about 3000 years ago in the times of King David, and his experience as recorded in this Psalm shows us that human nature hasn’t changed much over the centuries.
This Psalm speaks a message that I hope will resonate with us today. Asaph helps us move from consumer to communer, from temporal to eternal focused. We see how Asaph’s education truly changed his character and not just his T-cap scores.
Listen to his words as we go through this, but also, lean into it to hear God’s instruction and encouragement too. Let this lesson educate your faith and build up your understanding of things that last forever verses things that only last a short while. Listen to the warning within these words that can protect you from the addiction of the unimportant things in life.
Let’s track Asaph’s journey as he discovers the surprising joy of a radical reinterpretation of what is good.
Surely God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
That’s clear enough, isn’t it? God is what to those who are pure in heart? Good! God is good, all the time, right? But what does it mean for God to be good to us? How do you define God being good to you? Enter the school of life where our theology often clashes with our reality.
“O Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz. My friends all drive Porches, I must make amends!”
Asaph declares God’s goodness, then he looks around him and begins to question it. In fact, he nearly gave up on it altogether.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;
I had nearly lost my foothold.
3 For I envied the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 They have no struggles;
their bodies are healthy and strong.
5 They are free from common human burdens;
they are not plagued by human ills.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
they clothe themselves with violence.
7 From their callous hearts comes iniquity;
their evil imaginations have no limits.
8 They scoff, and speak with malice;
with arrogance they threaten oppression.
9 Their mouths lay claim to heaven,
and their tongues take possession of the earth.
10 Therefore their people turn to them
and drink up waters in abundance.
11 They say, “How would God know?
Does the Most High know anything?”
12 This is what the wicked are like—
always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.
Asaph’s first lesson about life is this: It’s not fair. No, it’s not. It is fallen. The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ, God’s own Son was tempted in all ways as we are, yet without sin. Satan offered Jesus the world in all its splendor if He would just bow and give Satan a little worship. The path Jesus was on here on this earth led not to a crown of gold, but to a crown of thorns, betrayal and a crucifixion. He did nothing wrong, but He suffered the punishment for the sins of the world. Is that fair? No, it’s not. Where is the goodness of God in that? We see it only by faith, brothers and sisters. All others see only a miserable death.
Why is it then that some bad people get all the good stuff and enjoy all the bling? Why can’t that be me? I thought God was good to those who are pure in heart. What’s good about struggling to pay bills while the wicked have it all?
Listen. You’ve got to deal with that question to get a spiritual education. Until you deal with it, it will deal with you. Envy of the prosperity of the wicked is elementary spiritual education. Let’s move on to middle school with Asaph.
13Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure
and have washed my hands in innocence.
14 All day long I have been afflicted,
and every morning brings new punishments.
15 If I had spoken out like that,
I would have betrayed your children.
16 When I tried to understand all this,
it troubled me deeply…
Let’s pause right there.
Do you hear what is happening in Asaph’s heart? He’s saying that His faith has been worthless! It is in vain to keep your heart pure and wash your hands in innocence! Where is the evidence that God is good to the pure in heart??? Why am I still keeping my faith and guarding my heart’s purity and washing my hands in innocence? Where’s the good?
All day long, instead of all the good things from God, what do I get? Afflicted! New punishments every morning!
But, and I love verse 15. He is struggling like mad, but… he resists blurting it out and saying what he thinks so that he won’t betray God’s children. You see, he’s a priest. He’s not supposed to think like this. Priests are supposed to be strong and wise and understand. Right? But what does Asaph say?
Trying to understand all this is troublesome and miserable!
Have any of you graduates been there? Have you experienced a time when you felt like a fool? Have you faced the power of peer pressure to push you away from your faith? Have you wanted to give up on God and just go after the things that look good? Have you thought about throwing away your innocence and diving into the polluted darkness of worldly pleasures? Is purity of heart not worth the pain of peer pressure?
Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” Can you still see God? Is He worth it?
Where do you go to figure this all out? Listen, graduates. Every one of you has been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Every one of you has confessed faith in the Lordship of Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Every one of you carries with you the mark of discipleship that follows Him. Where do you go to strengthen that? We all know where to go to lose it! Many go there! Jesus said, “Enter the narrow gate that leads to life, for wide is the gate and broad is the path that leads to destruction and many go that way. But narrow is the gate and difficult the path that leads to life and only a few find it.”
Where do you go when you struggle in your faith and find strength? Asaph tells us in verse 17.
Listen to me. You won’t find strength for your faith in places where everyone else is going these days. The places that will strengthen you faith are becoming few and far between. Asaph’s life lesson is this: when you face the struggles of faith and your theology clashes with the reality of this world, there is a place to go and find truth that lasts. In fact, the Hebrew word here is plural: Asaph says, "Until I entered the sanctuaries of God..." Then I began to see it. Unless you go to the places where God is you will go blind spiritually.
17till I entered the sanctuary of God;
then I understood their final destiny.
18 Surely you place them on slippery ground;
you cast them down to ruin.
19 How suddenly are they destroyed,
completely swept away by terrors!
20 They are like a dream when one awakes;
when you arise, Lord,
you will despise them as fantasies.
Asaph realized that this temporary prosperity falls apart and destroys those who cling to it. Where do you learn such a thing? In God’s presence. When we come near to God, He comes near to us and teaches us. God gives us an education that changes our character and shapes our destiny! Asaph learned the lesson and realized his foolishness in envying those who were wicked. Let's go to Asaph's high school - high as in holy and heavenly.
21 When my heart was grieved
and my spirit embittered,
22 I was senseless and ignorant;
I was a brute beast before you.
23 Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
27 Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
28 But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.
Asaph discovers the meaning of “good”. It is being near God.
Look at verses 24-26 again. Look especially at the last two words of verse 26. What does Asaph say is his portion? How long does it last?
In this school of life, I pray that you graduates will learn to discover what Asaph discovered and walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ who promised us:
To him that overcomes I give the right to sit with me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. Revelation 3:21.
All authority, all power and all wealth and all wisdom and all honor and all blessing await those who discover this truth and faithfully follow Jesus’ footsteps to glory.
