Psalm 122 - Empowering the people of God

Psalm 122 (Empowering the people of God)

A song of ascents. Of David.

¹ I rejoiced with those who said to me,
"Let us go to the house of the LORD."

² Our feet are standing
in your gates, O Jerusalem.

³ Jerusalem is built like a city
that is closely compacted together.

⁴ That is where the tribes go up,
the tribes of the LORD,
to praise the name of the LORD
according to the statute given to Israel.

⁵ There the thrones for judgment stand,
the thrones of the house of David.

⁶ Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
"May those who love you be secure.

⁷ May there be peace within your walls
and security within your citadels."

⁸ For the sake of my brothers and friends,
I will say, "Peace be within you."

⁹ For the sake of the house of the LORD our God,
I will seek your prosperity.

Today's psalm is psalm 122

Imagine if the Psalmist is here, he will say to you:

"You come for a Sunday service, I come to the house of God. You come to sing, I came to worship God. You come to listen to a sermon, I came to obey God. You come to give an offering, I came to be a holy and living sacrifice."

From the psalms, we can see two distinctive marks of a community of believers.

A. Community of worshippers (Ps 122:1-5)

To the pilgrims, worship is not a solo affair, not out of duty or obligation. It's out of devotion, gratitude and trust.

Three ways to become a community of worshippers:

1. Spirit of mutuality. (v1-2)

^"1 I rejoiced with those who said to me,
"Let us go to the house of the LORD."

² Our feet are standing
in your gates, O Jerusalem."

They did not come with a sense of tiredness or boredom but corporate gladness. Let's worship God together!

2. Spirit of unity (v3-4a)

^"3 Jerusalem is built like a city
that is closely compacted together.

⁴ That is where the tribes go up,
the tribes of the LORD,"

Jerusalem is small but significant. They were not individual tribes but they belong to God. Let not offence or anger mar this unity!

3. Spirit of thanksgiving (v4b-5)

"to praise the name of the LORD
according to the statute given to Israel.

⁵ There the thrones for judgment stand,
the thrones of the house of David."

"You cannot fully give thanks until you can trust Him fully." God is on His throne, He will judge accordingly. Trust Him.

B. Community of Peacemakers. (Ps 122:6-9)

1. Pray

Not say shalom but pray shalom!

It takes perseverance and time.

Not just shalom on the outside but on the inside.

Ps: Shalom means peace

2. Act

I will seek your good. It's prayer in action.

Conclusion:

Arise for God's sake.

Reflection:

What the psalmist says in the beginning hits me hard. Sometimes, in the past, I go to church for a sunday service instead of regarding it as the house of God where I go and worship him. Sunday service became like a routine rather than something special. It is also probably due to the fact that my relationship with God was not good. But ever since I did quiet time, fridays and sundays became meaningful to me. It became something I look forward to every week rather than a chore.

This passage reminds me of my church. A church which has a small congregation. I really hope to see people go to church, seeing it as a house of God rather than just a mundane service. Worshipping God instead of just singing for the sake of it. Sermons on sunday can be a bit boring but I tried. This passage gives me a new perspective of obeying God from what is being taught in the sermon even though not much is gained from the sermon. It also reminds me about offering myself as a holy and living sacrifice for God. The short passage below, I copied and paste: (If it is too long..don't have to read the passage..hehe..I kept it here so that I can refer to it easily next time. =p)

Romans 12:1-2

¹I appeal to you therefore, brothers,by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. ²Do not be conformed to this world,but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

“Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

The point here is not to present to God your bodies and not your mind or heart or spirit. He is going to say very clearly in verse two: “Be transformed in the renewal of your mind.” The point is to stress that your body counts. You belong to God soul and body, or you don't belong to him at all. Your body matters.

The sacrifice of our bodies to God is not a sacrifice for sin. That is done already in the sacrifice of Christ. Which is why bodies like ours are acceptable. Peter makes this really clear in 1 Peter 2:5 where he says something similar to Romans 12:1: “Offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God”—then he adds these words: “through Jesus Christ.” It's because of Jesus that our sacrifices to God are acceptable.

So put out of your mind any thought that your body will ever deserve acceptance with God. It won't. If you are acceptable, it is “through Jesus Christ.” Through his perfection, not your perfection.

The body is given to us to make visible the beauty of Christ. And Christ, at the hour of his greatest beauty, was repulsive to look at. Isaiah 53:2-3describes him: “He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows,and acquainted with grief.” The beauty of Christ is the beauty of love, not the beauty of looks. His beauty was the beauty of sacrifice, not skin.

God wants visible, lived-out, bodily evidence that our lives are built on his mercy.

I close with two statements from the apostle Paul. First, his own testimony of desire: “It is my eager expectation and hope that . . . Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death” (Philippians 1:20). Second, his exhortation to us from 1 Corinthians 6:19-20: “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

In other words, “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Show the worth of Christ by the way you use your body. Amen.

( By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org)

I now look forward for every fri and sunday because we are going there as a community. To worship God together with a heart of thanksgiving.

Regarding the spirit of unity, it reminds me of not letting offence or anger mar this unity. It reminds me of an incident where I was fuming mad because of something a person said. Haha...and for some who do not know, when I am fuming mad, I tend to bite so it is better to be left alone until everything cools down. Probably take an hour or so to chill before everything goes back to normal again. and yes..I get fuming mad at accussations or things that I perceived as disrespectful (I admit this sometimes can oso come out of my mouth quicker than I think) rather than the normal teasing that I normally receive from SW..lolz.

Anyway, anger destroys a relationship, friendship. Anger creates disunity in a community cuz I think if I am angry, I will tend to ignore someone until it cools. What if the anger never goes away? Then in the long-term, it will create some sort of awkwardness cuz of unforgiveness. Slowly the friendship breaks down. Last thing I want to see is disunity in a cell cuz I yearn to see a cell which is united in one body - everybody helping one another without any backstabbing and serving/caring for one another with a genuine heart. Forgiving is not easy. But carrying unforgiveness in the heart is a burden. So I try not to carry it for too long and slowly let it go to God...allow Him to heal my hurt feelings.

I admit it is difficult for me to pray for peace in the world. Partly cuz I tend to be self-centered sometimes and pray for my own needs. Well, it is something I have to learn and not forget.

In the past one week where I was relatively busy, I didn't do my quiet time according to psalms. I was in wesley owens on tuesday as it was closing down soon and books were sold really cheap. I managed to grab many books (with my sisters) which were sold at 60% discount and there was like only one of each kind left. So over the last week, I was reading random stuff like 'the purpose driven life' (in advance so that I have an idea how to start off the purpose driven life meeting I was planning to start after my harrogate placement) and also max lucado books. Max lucado books were simple but it spoke to me quite a lot too. It became a relaxing reading during stressful times.

Over the past week I actually missed the feeling of doing psalms but didn't have the time to do it.

Anyway, good to be back to psalms again. =)