The Shortest Chapter

Sermon for 5/20/2007

Psalm 117

Introduction:

A. G. Rogers said, “There are short hymns and long hymns, short prayers and long prayers, short speeches and long speeches, short sermons and long sermons, but short is better.”

B. Today I have decided to preach from the shortest chapter in the Bible. Can anyone tell me without looking in the bulletin, what is the shortest chapter in the Bible? What is shortest verse?

C. Do we know where the middle of the Bible is? Psalm 118. Do we know what the longest chapter is in the Bible? Psalm 119.

D. Read Psalm 117, shortest chapter in the Bible.

E. These two verses contain the answer to some of life’s biggest questions. Really simple concepts but so valuable.

Thesis: This shortest chapter in the Bible gives us the “Who, What, and Why” of life.

For instances:

I. Who? Two who’s are talked about here.

A. The Lord, God.

1. Who is this Psalm about? Vs. 1- Lord, Him. Vs 2- His, Lord mentioned 2.

2. The most important being in the universe, on this world, in our lives should not be us. The universe does not revolve around you, us. The Bible makes it clear.

3. First verse of the Bible says what (Genesis 1:1) In the Beginning God.

4. The Bible does not debate on the existence of God, the Bible reveals God.

5. It is mentioned twice in the book of Psalms (53:1) The fool says in his heart, "There is no God."

6. The Bible makes it clear that the most important being is God. We are God’s creation but God is the center of the universe.

7. How many people get this backwards?

8. That is not how a Christian should be. Jesus said in (Mat 22:37 NIV) “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’(Mat 22:38 NIV) This is the first and greatest commandment.

9. Even in the church people are concerned with what they want, their ideas of how things should be done, their needs. This even creeps into the music of the church; I want my style of music, no thought of how this will touch others, no thought of evangelism, no thought of what God thinks about the music.

10. At the beginning of the year I preached a sermon entitled, “It’s all about me.” We have a video clip here that talks about this from a musical perspective. It’s from Sermon Spice. Play clip.

B. Human beings.

1. Who is this Psalm written to? Who is the Bible written for? Human beings.

2. The Bible is written for everyone. Look at vs. 1, all nations, all peoples.

3. Great immigration debate going on. I don’t have any answers, but I do know that they are here. We need to be teaching them in some way.

4. We send money to missionaries. Why do we do this?

5. What about the handicapped? They are human beings. At Stella Christian Church preacher said that he baptized a man who was mentally handicapped. Butch Moser told us a story in Sunday school about something similar.

6. In the days of slavery, many churches had balconies that were reserved for slaves. Might have been to keep them in line in some cases, but in other cases because they were considered human beings and as such they needed to hear the gospel.

8. Every nation, every language, every person in all the world is equally loved by the One True God.

II. What?

A. What should the whole world do in response to God and the Bible?

B. Vs. 1 gives us the answer. Praise the Lord!

C. Some people think of praising the Lord just in the context of a worship service. These things are important but what about praising the Lord the rest of the week.

D. Yes, we praise the Lord by reading our Bibles and praying. Other ways?

E. (Col 3:23 NIV) Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men. IN our work

F. In our speech! (Col 3:17) And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

G. In our speech we should be boasting. “If you don’t tute your own horn, no one else will.” When we boast about ourselves it is offensive (or it used to be), boasting about someone else is noble.

H. Praise is a good thing. Some companies are hiring people to teach executives and management to give more genuine praise to their employees. People like to be praised. Good parents deserve the praise of their children. Good teachers deserve the praise of their students. Good employers deserve the praise of employees.