You can listen to the message here:-
https://soundcloud.com/necallanquak/special-sermon-one-day-in-the-temple-psalm-841-12
Message
Psalm 84:1-12
One Day in the Temple
1 How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty!
2 My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
3 Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may have her young—a place near your altar,
Lord Almighty, my King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you.
This Psalm starts by expressing the thoughts of someone who is “home sick”. But they are not on their way home … they are on their way to worship God. Every year crowds would flock to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. They would make the journey from every part of the land. Some would come from other countries. They were all coming to one place … and it was home.
As the Psalmist walks along you can feel the intense desire he has as he allows his emotions to unfold.
My soul yearns, even faints for the courts of the Lord.
The soul represents the very core of our being. It is what drives us. When someone at work asked him what he was doing on the weekend he didn’t say, “I’ll probably just go to church”. No. His response is.
“I’M ON MY WAY TO MEET WITH GOD AND BE REVIVED BY HIS PRESENCE … I JUST CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF PRAISING AND WORSHIPPING”.
His mates at work think he is crazy … and he is. He is crazy for God and just feels so privileged to be able to express it.
The Psalmist goes on. Even the sparrow has found a home – a place near Your alter.
The Temple courtyards were open to the sky, and the great eaves provided a place for good nesting, so there were always birds in and around the Temple. As he thinks about the situation of the birds he is jealous … he wants to have that intimacy and closeness. To be in the midst of God’s house all the time.
“I’ve gotta have it” – it is an appetite for God. That is what this Psalm is expressing … a deep longing to be with God and worship. Why? Why was it so important to him?
To see why let me describe an article in National Geographic about the Artic wolf. Seven of these wolves had targeted a small group of musk-oxen calves which were guarded by eleven adults. As the wolves approached the musk oxen bunched in an impenetrable semicircle, their deadly rear hooves facing out, and the calves remained safe during a long standoff. But then a single ox broke rank which caused the others to scatter into nervous little groups. Eventually the adults fled and not a single calf survived.
It is hard being a believer and staying focussed when we try and do it all on our own. An antidote to this difficulty is to long for the strength and support which comes from being together with the people of God. Together we recognise the grace of God to us makes us a part of a family which cannot be broken.
In a while we will celebrate the Lord’s Supper
As we look upon the elements which are before us this is what we are celebrating. We are reminding ourselves that God has gone to great lengths to include us.
God took His beloved Son and nailed Him to the cross.
God turned His back and poured out His wrath.
God gave that which was most precious to be the ultimate sacrifice.
God brought us through His Son into His “home”. We don’t have a temple anymore … but we do gather as a church. It is a place of encouragement and support – like “home”. We too are at times “homesick” pilgrims who have come together to be strengthened by the Lord.
Let’s keep reading – Psalm 84:5-9.
5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
6 As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs;
the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
7 They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.
8 Hear my prayer, Lord God Almighty; listen to me, God of Jacob.
9 Look on our shield, O God; look with favour on your anointed one.
In these verses we continue to follow the thought patterns of a man who is on a journey to the Temple in Jerusalem. He is walking from which ever part of the land he lives and he is constantly thinking about what the temple means.
And he knows he can’t always be in the Temple building.
And he knows that it is impossible to stay there every day.
Yet he also knows that he is given ongoing strength … strength which comes by focussing on the One behind the temple … who is God.
What this traveller now does is take that encouragement and apply it to his difficult and harsh circumstances. As they pass through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs.
Historically speaking we do not know where the Valley of Baca is, or why it was such a dreadful place. But we know it represented difficulty because Baca means “tears” – the Psalmist is say “Let’s recognise that people do at times go through the tearful place.” It happens doesn’t it.
We go through difficulties, pains, hurts and we’re suffering.
We have been mistreated and misunderstood by people who we love.
You may be going through tough times with your family, spouse or your job.
Or you may be just too tired of going through all the garbage.
We look at our life and wonder what God is doing.
This is how life can unfold,
We find ourselves in the same situation as that described in Psalm 42:3 My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
In the middle of all this, the Valley of Baca, the promise of God still stands.
Never did Jesus say, “Life will be a bed of roses”.
But He did say, “I will never leave you nor forsake you”.
And He did promise to be both the Author and Finisher of our faith.
In other words, we will have a hard life … but that life becomes impossible without God’s strength. To live this life we must have God’s saving strength, His keeping strength and His enabling strength. Our own resources are completely inadequate.
There was a farmer who had a weathervane on his barn.
The farmer had written on the weathervane “God is love.”
When people saw the weathervane changing in the wind they would say to him, “Do you believe that the love of God changes like the wind?”
The farmer would always say, “No. I do this to be reminded that God is love, no matter which way, or how hard, the wind blows.”
In Romans 8:31 Paul asks, “If God is for us who can be against us?” That is the same message the Psalmist is seeking to teach as he talks about the people going through the Valley of Baca and making it a place of springs instead of a place of tears. Instead of stopping at the difficulties and allowing them to bring him to a screeching halt the Psalmist looks beyond the difficulties to a God who promises that we will go from strength to strength.
We know these truths – don’t we.
But isn’t it also true that sometimes you can’t see it for yourself. Sometimes the difficulties are so great it is impossible to cast your eyes through them to see the reality. That is why we have been put into community. Each one of us is on the road to Zion … on the road to eternal hope. But as we make our journey on that road we do so with our arms linked to each other.
Our vertical relationship with God puts us into a horizontal relationship with each other. And on that road we come to those whose chins are on the ground and we help them to lift their eyes to the heavens and see the reality of God’s strength. When we celebrate the Lord’s Supper this is partly what we are celebrating. The encouragement and spiritual strength that comes recognising that God has gathered so that, together, we can remind one another that the Valley of tears can be turned into a refreshing spring.
Let’s keep reading. Psalm 84:10-12
10 Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favour and honour; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.
12 Lord Almighty, blessed is the one who trusts in you.
Better is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere
Life has no real significance when it is lived without God in the picture. The very least of God … 1 day compared to 1000 … is more precious and useful than anything this world can offer.
We can spend 1000 days slogging it out at work, but one day with the Lord can give us more meaning.
We can spend 1000 days getting an education, but it will be the one day which gives real purpose.
Nothing this world can offer … even the best this world can offer … comes close to fulfilling the yearnings of an empty soul.
I would rather be a doorkepper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
There is more satisfaction being the one who closes the door than being the one who has every possession imaginable.
So what if people around me are getting ahead.
So what if they have more luxuries then I do.
Who cares about their fancy cars and their thick investment portfolio.
I’m happy standing here by the door because I am in the presence of the One who will give me an eternity of riches and blessing that will make the best this world has to offer look like trash.
Life has no real significance without God. That is a truth that helps us see this section in a new Testament setting.
The temple disappeared many years ago … 70AD to be precise. While it is true that people still make pilgrimages to Jerusalem – it isn’t to go to the temple. In a sense there is no building anymore where God can be found as He was in the Old Testament.
But that doesn’t stop us from having a yearning. In fact the New Testament gives us every reason to have a greater yearning … because now we are in an age where God Himself lives in us through His Spirit. When Paul thinks about eh practical implications of this situation he says in 1 Corinthians 3:16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?
We don’t have to go to the temple.
We are the temple.
If it is better to have one day in the temple than 1000’s elsewhere – how much better is it that we constantly have the presence of God within us.
For everyone who believes in Jesus is never far off.
That is true for each one of us who believe in Jesus. Which makes our faith journey not just an individual journey but a community journey.
Think of it this way. Picture a tuning fork. It is what a person uses to tune a piano. The piano tuner might tune 100 different pianos.
All of those pianos are tuned into one tuning fork.
Which means all of those pianos are tuned into each other.
When we meet together, in fellowship at the supper, we are not just individually tuned to Jesus, we are tuned to each other because of Christ.
Together we form the body. Together we celebrate faith. Together we walk the journey.
We have community – which we should yearn to be a part of.
We have a home – where we are accepted.
We have a purpose – to serve our Saviour.
We have an identity – the body of Christ.
Let’s truly celebrate all that we have been given as those who are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
Prayer
