“Wanderer. Rebel. Fool. Everyday People”
2015 Summer Series: A Study of Psalm 107 Part 2
All Scripture References from The New Living Translation. Tyndale House Publishers Inc.
We are in our new summer series called: “Wanderer. Rebel. Fool. Everyday People.”
I love that, as a church, we realize that we are a group of everyday people on mission with an extraordinary God to reach out to and love other everyday people.
In this series we are journeying through Psalm 107 together, turn there, - it is a Psalm celebrating the very, very real truth that God is good…all the time…and all the time God is good.
God is good in His nature, essence and for all eternity He will never not be good.
There are lots of other things that are not good.
Finding a used band-aid in your salad is not good.
Biting into an apple and finding a worm is not good.
Biting into an apple and finding half a worm is even more not good.
Truth be told, cancer, brokenness, emptiness, pain, disease, lostness, abuse, abandonment, addiction,…none of these are good either.
But some of these things and things like these are in our lives - and that certainly can’t be good.
A young white man shooting 9 people because they were black…that’s not good.
A young black man shooting 4 people, weeks earlier, because they were white…thats not good.
Listen to what the bible says about our goodness:
Reading from Romans 3:9-18:
“Well then, should we conclude that we Jews are better than others? No, not at all, for we have already shown that all people, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under the power of sin. 10As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous— not even one. 11No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. 12All have turned away;
all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one.” 13“Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave. Their tongues are filled with lies. Snake venom drips from their lips. 14Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. 15They rush to commit murder. 16Destruction and misery always follow them. 17They don’t know where to find peace. 18They have no fear of God at all.”
The depravity of the human heart is beyond our comprehension with seemingly no redeeming qualities.
So how do we reconcile a God good with a not so good world and a not so good people?
How does our experience with God affirm that He is indeed a Good God when things are so evidently bad? PRAY
Last week I said the first three verses in Psalm 107 gives us a Declaration, an Examination and then an Invitation.
We only got to the Declaration, “He is Good, His faithful love endures forever.”
And for some that is all we need…Some of us take that at face value and live life with that perspective.
Whatever happens, triumph or tragedy, God is still good and He’ll work it all out for our good.
Romans 8:28: “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”
At Pine Cove Family Camp, in one of the adult sessions we had a very good apologetic session on doubt: Is it OK to doubt? What do you do if you have doubts? How do you answer those with doubt.
The speaker presented very compelling insight and a sound apologetic approach to doubt.
But for some it was completely unnecessary because they never struggle with doubt.
It wasn’t in their experience and it wasn’t their hang up - but for others they really had a chance to address the doubt that at times hung them up.
And for some this morning - you're just not prepared to accept, at face value, the declaration ‘that God is good and His faithful love endures forever.’
You’re really struggling with your perception and your experiences lining up with this and you need more evidence, explanation, extrapolation before you’re in…or at least so that you can explain it to your friend who is struggling with this.
That’s how some of us approached the doubt question…you see I have this friend who doubts…
We see part of the answer for the evidences of God’s goodness in the opening words of Psalm 107:
Psalm 107:1-3: “Give thanks to the lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. Has the lord redeemed you? Then speak out! Tell others he has redeemed you from your enemies. For he has gathered the exiles from many lands, from east and west, from north and south.”
An Investigation - “Has the Lord redeemed you?”
Redemption is one of the strongest evidences of the Goodness of God.
Redeeming a fallen, dark and depraved world and a hateful and murderous people is evidence that God is indeed good.
“Has God redeemed you from your enemies…Has He brought you back…”
The word redeem means “to buy out.”
The term was used specifically and most often in reference to the purchase of a slave’s freedom…and means to free someone from bondage by paying a ransom, the price that makes redemption possible.
That is the meaning of the word gael, here rendered “redeemed”
And we find in the Law of Moses a clear and full idea of what that looks like as we find God’s instruction to redeem those who were captive or enslaved.
If any person either sold themselves or their property into slavery or were sold as a slave or carried away as a captive, then his kinsman, that is his next of kin, the male relative nearest to him in blood, had the right of redemption.
Not only the right but also the responsibility to redeem - it was his burden to bear / but not his obligation.
They were to look out for the next of kin closest to them and having the means to and the opportunity to they were instructed to help if needed and to redeem if necessary.
And such a kinsman was called "the redeemer” when he paid off the debt owed or the ransom required for that relative to set them free again.
The Book of Ruth provides the best full picture of what the Kinsman Redeemer looked like.
A woman named Naomi lost her husband and two sons to death - certainly that wasn’t good - it was an incredibly dark time for her…very, very sad.
She decided to return to her hometown of Bethlehem - and told her two daughter in laws, both foreigners, to return to their respective land.
One went back home and one, Ruth, stayed with her
Naomi returned to Bethlehem in a very vulnerable and poor condition as a needy widow.
Ruth became a day laborer in the fields of a very rich landowner named Boaz to provide for them both.
Turned out that Boaz was Naomi’s second in line “Kinsman Redeemer” - and he took notice of Ruth.
Naomi explained this to Ruth and sent her to him to ask him to redeem them.
Ruth 3:9: “I am your servant Ruth,” she replied. “Spread the corner of your covering over me, for you are my family redeemer.”
We have no covering, we’re not safe - would you please redeem us."
Boaz had a decision to make but before he could act on his decision he knew that he was second in line so he went and talked with the first ‘redeemer’ who when he realized he’d have to marry Ruth as part of the deal - decided to pass.
I bet Boaz probably had something to do with helping him pass - “Is she pretty? Well let’s just say that if she fell out of an ugly tree then she hit every branch on the way down…bless her heart.”
For some reason the other guy passed on redeeming Naomi, her property and Ruth, the Moabite woman, the foreigner.
Boaz didn’t pass on this opportunity to redeem - He immediately redeemed them and he married Ruth.
Ruth 4:13: “So Boaz took Ruth into his home, and she became his wife. When he slept with her, the lord enabled her to become pregnant, and she gave birth to a son.”
Because they were redeemed their suffering was now over, their dark past was behind them, their needs were met and they were safely under the care, the covering, of their kinsmen redeemer.
Ruth 4:14: “Then the women of the town said to Naomi, “Praise the lord, who has now provided a redeemer for your family! May this child be famous in Israel.”
It wasn’t good for Naomi to have lost her husband and it wasn’t good to lose her two sons.
It wasn't good returning as a failure and being the poorest among her fellow townspeople.
It wasn’t good being at the mercy of others.
It wasn’t good to be in a situation of being unable to care for her own needs.
But it sure was good to be redeemed and to be set free from all of that.
It was good to be declared whole again, out of debt and able to start over with a clean slate.
No doubt both Naomi and certainly Ruth had great affection and thankfulness for Boaz, their redeemer.
But this is more than a great love story that worked out - it also provides a picture of Who our God is…and why He He is good.
Our God is good because He is a redeeming God.
Our God redeems, brings back, those who have been exiled, taken captive, held in prison and spread out all over the place - east, west, north, south.
We’ll meet some of the people God redeemed as we go through this Psalm.
The Israelites were redeemed by God from Egypt:
Exodus 6:6-7: “Therefore, say to the people of Israel: ‘I am the LORD. I will free you from your oppression and will rescue you from your slavery in Egypt. I will redeem you with a powerful arm and great acts of judgment. I will claim you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God who has freed you from your oppression in Egypt.”
Psalm 130:7-8: “O Israel, hope in the LORD; for with the LORD there is unfailing love. His redemption overflows. He himself will redeem Israel from every kind of sin.”
Why is our God so good?
Because, even though we’re so bad, so not good, in oh so many ways, He in His grace and in His great mercy still choose to redeem us.
How did He redeem? How did He show His goodness…Let me give you a glimpse of the how with the rest of story in the book of Ruth…
All of Naomi’s friends praised Ruth, who they said was better to her than seven sons…
Boaz and Ruth provided an heir to Naomi in the little guy that they had together…remember how all the ladies in the town said, “May this child be famous in Israel.”?
Well they named him Obed, and he indeed became famous - I’ll read it to you.
Ruth 4:16: “The neighbor women said, “Now at last Naomi has a son again!” And they named him Obed. He became the father of Jesse and the grandfather of David.”
Obed, his name profoundly means “a servant, a slave of God; worshipper, a follower.”
Well this little guy grew up to be the grandfather of the greatest king in all of Israel, King David, but of course it gets way bigger.
In the Gospel of John, when people were split over whether or not Jesus was the Messiah, whether He should be followed or forgotten, one of them rightly stated this promise of God from Scripture:
John 7:42: “For the Scriptures clearly state that the Messiah will be born of the royal line of David, in Bethlehem, the village where King David was born."
That's right Obed, was the great, great, great to whatever degree, great grandfather of Jesus.
The redemption of Naomi and Ruth by Boaz placed them in the lineage of the Redeemer of the world.
It really is an amazing, miraculous, God-ordered depiction of God’s plan for humanity - Redemption.
We, you and I, have a debt we can not pay.
We, you and I, are among the not good, no not one is good, populace of humanity.
We, you and I, have a master we can not shake - sin.
Jesus said that in John 8:34.
John 8:34: “Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin.”
We, you are I, are in desperate need to be redeemed
We, you and I, are hopelessly, if left to ourselves, beyond redemption and in the darkest of states.
That’s were the Gospel shines brightest.
God sent His Son, not while we were good, or worthy, but while we were sinful and hateful toward God.
Romans 5:6-8: “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”
That's why God is good…all the time…
In Jesus we have a Redeemer…we have One, Who is closer than a brother…One Who is willing and able to redeem.
Ephesians 1:7: “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace"
Don’t forget the Investigation - “Has the Lord redeemed you?”
Have you gone to Him, bowed low at His feet, laid low by your sin, by your depravity, by your rebellion, by your neediness, by your emptiness, by your fear,
Have you gone to Him and like Ruth said to Him “It’s me Ty…I am your servant…Please Lord Jesus spread the corner of your covering, Your righteousness over me, for you are my Redeemer.”
If He has redeemed you then the Invitation is to tell others He has redeemed you. Speak out.
The Invitation: Speak out. Tell others you’ve been redeemed.
Psalm 107:1-3: “Give thanks to the lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. Has the lord redeemed you? Then speak out! Tell others he has redeemed you from your enemies. For he has gathered the exiles from many lands, from east and west, from north and south.”
The world now watches some of those who have been redeemed speaking out in Charleston…and they are having a hard time understanding the words pouring out of the Christian families toward the young man who murdered their father, mother, sister, aunt, pastor…friend.
“I forgive you - Take this opportunity to repent. Give your life to the One Who matters most…Christ.”
Those words can only come from the hearts of those who truly know that they’ve been graciously redeemed by a Good God who overcomes the enemy of our soul and gathers His exiled and broken children from many lands…
They must be so closely related to their Kinsmen Redeemer, because they look, act and sound just like Him…even in their suffering.
Job 19:25: “But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last.”
