Songs of Summer: Psalm 123

Well, I'm Josh. I'm glad you're here today. And happy Independence Day week. Right.

It is truly a gift that we get to live in a country where we can worship freely, where we have the freedom to have and share our beliefs, our opinions about things, where we have opportunities that quite frankly, much of the world wishes that they had right today. We got a lot to be thankful for, a lot to be thankful for, including the lives of countless men and women who worked to provide and maintain these freedoms that we get to experience. And even in the face of plenty of things that I'm sure all of us are not really proud of that are happening in our country today, instead of grief, discouragement, complaining, arguing, instead of that, we're just going to be grateful because none of us have packed our bags to go live somewhere else yet. John and Jayla were up in the front and laughed last service because they went to, you know, some other country on the other side of the world. Right, Jordan?

They thought that was funny. But anyway. But as an act of gratitude and thankfulness, I just want us to pray and thank our God today. Heavenly Father, thank you for your mercy, thank you for your kindness, thank you for your generosity. We did not choose to be born into this life that you've given us.

You just gave it to us. And as we live in this country with freedoms that allow us to have and share our faith, I pray that we would not be blinded by that freedom to think that we don't need to share it. So wake us up. Your church here. Let us not be lost in wallowing or lost in self righteousness, but help us to proclaim the gospel and to live as salt and light in our homes, in our workplaces, in our schools, in.

In our neighborhoods and across this country that you've blessed us with. So today we are thankful in Jesus name. Amen. Well, speaking of independence, I am so glad to be able to say that my kids are becoming more and more independent. Right?

The days of diapers and car seats and help with baths are over. And it's kind of wonderful. And for those of you who still have little ones at home who need you for every single thing, I feel you. Okay. I feel you.

It might feel like it's taking forever. It won't last. They will grow up. And I would love to say that it gets easier to raise teenagers, but it's not easier, it's different. And it might be harder some days, but you do get the added benefit that you don't have to change their diaper Anymore, So at least that.

Right? Well, my daughter ada, she turned 15 this week. And yeah, you're all thinking this guy doesn't look old enough to have a 15 year old. Yeah. Right.

So my daughter turned 15 this week and, and she has become incredibly independent at this point in her life. Like she sets her own alarm. She gets out of bed in the morning on her own. She gets out of bed and goes and brushes her own teeth. I don't have to brush her teeth.

She puts on her own makeup, I don't have to do that. I don't have to do her hair. She takes care of all that. She gets dressed for school. She goes downstairs, makes her own breakfast on occasion.

She cleans up what she got out on occasion. And then, I mean, she takes care of everything else. She gets her books ready, her book bag ready, she puts it by the door, she watches the clock and makes sure that she's out the door at the right time. She gets on the bus on her own. I don't have to walk her down to the bus stop.

She does that on her. She goes to school on her own. I don't take her to her classes. She does that on her own. She listens and takes notes on her own.

She gets back on the bus at the end of the day and makes it all the way home without me. I. I don't even have to help her. And then she does her own homework. And she has even started this little business where she makes cake pops to sell to make money for the things that she wants to buy. Like, she's incredibly independent, Right?

Yeah. Yeah. And some of you are thinking, I wish that my 15 year old was as independent as yours. Right? Here's the thing.

Her independence is a facade. It's not even real. It's fake. Here's why. Because she wouldn't be alive if it weren't for Heidi and me.

She wouldn't have a bed to sleep in if it weren't for Heidi and me. If she wouldn't have a pillow under her head. She wouldn't have an alarm clock to wake her up because we've provided that for her. She would have no food, no clothes, she wouldn't have a toothbrush or toothpaste or running water. She wouldn't even know the.

That she should brush her teeth, let alone how to brush her teeth if it weren't for Heidi and me. She wouldn't have a bus to get on if it weren't for Heidi and me. Paying taxes and other people in our county who Provide this for her. Right? She wouldn't have an education without these teachers and all the people who work at the school.

She wouldn't be able to bake, let alone have the oven and electricity and sugar and flour and all those things and the Internet provided for her to be able to promote and sell her cake pops. Her independence is a complete sham. It's a complete sham. Here's the brutal, honest truth for us. We're no different.

We adults love to think that we are independent and we are inextricably dependent. Don't believe me? Well, consider that all that money that you make in your job is entirely dependent on the company you work for, existing, let alone an entire functioning economy that makes what you do worth anything at all. Right? All that food that you provide for yourself from the grocery store, it is so dependent on the entire supply chain of how that food got there.

The people who, who run the grocery store, the people who stock the food on the shelves, the farmers, the tractor, the tires, the fuel, the oil, not to even mention the whole like solar cycle and sun and moon and rain and the water cycle and seeds and all of this stuff. We are inextricably dependent in our lives. Remember 2020, little thing called Covid? Then there was a boat stuck in the Suez Canal and then suddenly we had to wait 18 months to get a new La Z boy in our living rooms, right? We are so dependent.

The number of things we're dependent on. To put a hamburger on our grill this Thursday is almost uncountable. And yet here we are with our Kiss the Cook apron on, cooking over our Blackstone, cold, beverage in hand, declaring our independence. We're not independent, we're utterly dependent. And while most of our activity is aimed at fueling the facade of being self made of independence, the truth is we both refuse to and cannot see how desperately dependent we are.

And all the while, Satan wants us to believe that the apex of our existence is to chase our dreams, to fulfill our deepest desires, to never let anyone else judge us or tell us otherwise. He wants us to believe that the good independent life is bound by no law, no moral correctness, no political correctness, no social construct, no taxes, no rules, no outside expectations. Right? It's in the water that we drink. It's in the air that we breathe.

And those of us who are Christians are straddling a very dangerous fence. On one side, we believe that all of the work that we have done for ourselves has provided for us. We are providing for ourselves. And on the other side, our foot is barely resting on the ground, trusting God for our whole existence and eternal future. Now, practically, this doesn't look so bad.

On the outside. We say things like, God helps those who help themselves. We've heard this, right? Do you know that's not in the Bible? I mean, I get the sentiment right.

God gave us the ability to work. He gave us the ability to think, made us able, gave us gifts. There's plenty in the Bible about how the lazy shouldn't eat or how fools should squander what they've been given. But at the end of the day, our very best efforts are tantamount to a housefly sitting on the hood of a freight train, frantically flapping its wings, believing that somehow it's doing work to pull the load.

Whether we can see it or not, we're desperately dependent on God not only for our eternal salvation, but but for our very breath. Now, I do believe that the Bible teaches that God expects us to be active participants, but we cannot conclude that we are the ones who are accomplishing anything significant. You know, there's this beautiful theme in the Bible of God asking his people to do something small, in faith, in obedience, often crazy. And then he shows up and does the heavy lifting. We see this with Joshua and his army as God sends them to Jericho and they march around the city and he says, keep doing this every day and I just want you to worship.

And then God miraculously comes and knocks down the walls, right? We see this with Gideon when there's a massive army encamped outside of the city in Gideon. God says, you're going to lead the army? And he says, okay, great. And he has thousands of men.

And God keeps shrinking his army down to 300. And he says, yeah, I want you to go get torches, pots and trumpets. That's how you're going to fight. Gideon says, okay, we'll do it. And what does God do?

God miraculously shows up. He sends confusion into the camp, and he fights the battle and conquers. We see it with Naaman, a man who has leprosy, and he's told through the prophet to go and dip in the river seven times before God miraculously shows up and takes away his leprosy. The model is we do little things as acts of obedience and faith in him, and he does the heavy lifting. This causes us to live dependent and not give in to the lie of independence.

We obey. He provides the rest. The Bible does not teach that God helps those who help themselves. The Bible actually teaches that God helps the helpless, that God helps the Obedient. This means, though, that we have to be willing to see ourselves as helpless.

Not in some victimy, whiny, excuse making way, but in a position of full blown humility, in a position of desperate need. In John 15:5, Jesus says this. He says, I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. And then we would like for it to end, but it doesn't end.

It says, apart from me, you can do nothing. Look at your friend and say, you can do nothing.

You didn't mean it. You didn't say it like you meant it. You can do nothing apart from Him. Right now we might say, oh, there are lots of things that we can do without Him. We wouldn't even have air to breathe, first off, if it weren't for Him.

And second, all the things that we might think that we're doing, of significance, none of them have any eternal value whatsoever. Without him, we cannot work our way to grace, we cannot work our way to heaven, we cannot produce fruit that lasts. We cannot expand his kingdom on our own. We cannot do anything that truly matters apart from Him. And so today, as we celebrate governmental independence as a nation, my hope is that we might recognize our great desperation and be willing to make another declaration, a declaration of dependence on God.

Now, all this was a long introduction to get to Psalm 123, which is our psalm for the day. We're in the middle of this Songs of Summer series. I did see a handful of devotionals left on the tables if you guys haven't picked one up yet. We've got some more weeks left in this series. We'd love for you to join us in the devotional, but as we continue this series, we're looking at Psalm 123, and this is a psalm that is a reminder of the posture that God wants for us to find ourselves in to show our dependence.

So let's read this Psalm 123. To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress. So our eyes look to the Lord our God. Till he has mercy upon us.

Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us. For we have had more than enough of contempt. Our soul has had more than enough of the scorn of those who are at ease of the contempt of the proud.

Start with verse one. To you I lift my eyes, O You who are enthroned and in the heavens. This is a line that's on repeat throughout the Psalms. It's a position that's on repeat throughout Scriptures. It's the way that Jesus told us that we should pray when he opens the Lord's Prayer with our Father in heaven.

It is this reminder of our smallness and his bigness. It is this reminder that we should lift our eyes and lift our heads up to the Creator. It's to remind us that he is above all things. Only he is sovereign. Only he is all powerful.

Only he is all knowing. Only he is Creator of the universe in which we live, Designer of our lungs and provider of the oxygen in our lungs that allow us to live. I believe that the reason that this psalm and others are in this posture of looking up spiritually, physically lifting our eyes is because this is the posture required for us to have humility. This is the posture required for us to declare our dependence on Him. And then the psalm uses language that's nearly impossible for us to resonate with.

It's. It's language that's antithetical to celebrating independence from an oppressive nation. It says, behold, as the eyes of servants look to the master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God. This Hebrew word for servant or maidservant can be most aptly translated for us as slave. This is the lowest of the low.

This is the one who's without power to control their own future, to control their own decisions. This is the one who was bought as an object, or the one who found themselves in this position because they couldn't pay off a debt. Slave. We would never willingly view ourselves as slaves to anything, right? Or anyone.

Slavery is oppressive and brutal and inhumane. It's demoralizing. And yet the Bible tells us that we are slaves. Romans, chapter 6, verse 16. Paul tells us this.

He says, do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness. But thanks be to God that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed. And having been set free from sin, you now get to do whatever you want. That's not what it says. Having been set free from sin have become slaves of righteousness.

Church. Don't miss this. No matter how much we have convinced ourselves that we are Independent, self made, in control of our own futures. We are slaves. You are a slave.

I am a slave. We are slaves. And Paul says our obedience is the giant arrow that points at our master. Paul says that we have been set free from sin, not so that we can do whatever we want, but so that we can become slaves to righteousness. As uncomfortable as this might make us, especially in a world where we would like to think that all of our decisions and our relationships are nuanced, right?

There are only two masters. There are only two. The first master is sin, which leads to death. Satan is that master who masquerades as the way to wealth and happiness and gratification and pleasure and independence. But make no mistake, he is only interested in our exploitation, in our destruction, in our death.

And the only other master is righteousness. That master is King Jesus. And it comes by the way of the blood.

That master leads to eternal life. The psalmist says that their soul has had enough of the scorn of those who are at ease, enough of the contempt of the proud. They're at the very bottom. They're exhausted and desperate. So desperate that they have a willingness to become and view themselves and be in a posture, in a position of servitude and slavery, willingly fixing their eyes on him and awaiting any call for obedience.

This line, have mercy on us. Have mercy on us, echoes throughout the New Testament for the neediest people who find themselves looking for help in the person of Jesus. In Matthew, chapter nine, there are two blind men who are sitting at the city gate. And they had no way to provide for themselves. They were completely dependent on others to.

To feed them, to clothe them, even to get safely from place to place. They would depend on others. These are men whose lives have dealt them a very difficult hand. And yet these are men whose faith is so rich that we're reading about it now. This story isn't just about the power of Jesus.

It certainly is, but it's also about the power of their faith. Even in their blindness, when they heard that Jesus was coming, they cried out, they're yelling out in desperation to Jesus, have mercy on us. Have mercy on us. And because of their faith, Jesus heals them. He restores their sight.

They submitted themselves to him in desperation and he delivered them. Then in Matthew 15, there's a Canaanite woman. She's a pagan woman. She doesn't even follow God. She comes from a people who don't even believe in God.

She's desperate and in despair because she has a daughter who is demon possessed and the Bible just says she was suffering greatly. She comes to Jesus in desperation and pleads with him, have mercy on us. Have mercy on us. And the disciples try to shoo her away because she's a pagan. And even Jesus hesitates to heal because she's a pagan.

But her faith overwhelms him. And he says something incredible to her. He says, woman, you have great faith. And he healed her daughter right in that moment. The same pattern happens with a man whose son is demon possessed and cries out to Jesus.

It happens with two other men who have leprosy. It's this skin eating disease that would keep them outside of the camp and no one would come near them. Have mercy on us. Have mercy on us. It seems that Jesus is in a position of listening for those who are desperately crying out to him in faith, willing, willing, when they say, have mercy on us.

Have mercy on us. To have mercy on them and to bring healing. So I have to ask you, which of these two masters is your master today? To which master are you being obedient? Which master has captivated your attention?

Your gaze? Which master do you long to please? Because there are only two. And no matter how proud or arrogant we may present ourselves to be, no matter how much we think we are our own master, under the surface of that facade of independence is all of us who are desperate, needy, blind, broken slaves. Slaves who are dependent on one of two masters.

So as I begin to land this message, I want to talk to two different groups that are here in the room or listening online today. The first is those of us who are willingly serving the Master of the world. Some in this group see their desperation already. That's why they're here. And some are still blinded by the power and allure of this world.

But make no mistake, you are serving the Master who masquerades as pleasure and light and life. But one day he will remove his mask and he will reveal that he has led you to death. And before you suggest I'm here to be emotionally manipulative or something in this moment. And these are not just my words and thoughts. This is what the Bible tells us is true.

This is the reality that sin and being a slave to sin leads to death. So I want to encourage you today to see your desperate need to finally declare that you are sick and tired, that you are needy and broken, and finally cry out these words, these words of centuries and centuries of followers. Have mercy on me. Have mercy on me. And know that if you cry this out in faith, King Jesus is faithful he's waiting to come and purchase you out of death.

That's what he does. He purchases out of death. So if you want to talk to somebody about that today, I would love to talk to you about it. If you want to believe, but you still got too many questions, I would love to talk to you about it. Let this be the day today.

And let me encourage you with these words from Matthew 11, 28 and 29. Jesus says, Come to me, all who are weary and burdened. I will give you rest, take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. This is the invitation from the good Master. Rest for your soul.

And it's available today. So if today's the day, then let today be the day. Now, the second group is those of us who have named Jesus as our king. He is our master. But I have to ask if maybe our gaze has shifted just a little bit.

Cause it's easy, man. It is easy. It's easy for our gaze to shift. It's easy for us to get wrapped up in parenting and life and we work and marriage and school and chaos and all of those things. And for our gaze to just kind of slip a little bit.

We got one foot here and one foot there.

And maybe some of us can't see that we have one foot here and one foot here. And I just want to ask us some really. These are painful questions. These are brutal questions. If these don't kind of punch you in the gut, then you're not awake right now.

These are tough questions, but they'll show us. They will uncover to us the ways that we have lost our focus a little bit. Why do we suddenly feel completely dependent on God when we lose our job, but not the day before when everything was fine?

Why do we suddenly feel completely dependent on God when we receive a cancer diagnosis, but weeks before that, when we had cancer and didn't know it, we were just fine? Why do we suddenly feel completely dependent on God when we face the death of a loved one or when we run out of strength, but not the days and weeks and moments before? Why do we suddenly cry out to God for help only after we have done everything in our own power to have a baby or try and heal ourselves or try and beat that sin, or try and control that situation or whatever? You fill in the blank. It's because our gaze has shifted.

It's because we've forgotten our position of desperate need, because we've been blinded by activity it's because we've given in to the sham of our independence. And so my encouragement to all of us who find ourselves in that position today is to cry out those words to the Master again. Have mercy on us. Have mercy on us. It's not fun to view ourselves in this light, right?

But it's so important to see that we are ever, constantly, completely in desperate need of the Master to lead us, to care for us, to rescue us. Not just for the eternal, for the daily, for the moment by moment stuff. We are in desperate need. And every time that we don't believe that we are, we have lost sight of the Master. Because the true nature of our dependence isn't circumstantial.

It doesn't ebb and flow. We do not become more dependent other days than some, right? Our dependence is constant 100% all of the time. And if we're willing to admit this, give in to our weakness, then the beautiful thing is that God is so gracious, he's so understanding. He's not sitting back going, really?

Another time. He's standing there with open arms going, yeah, another time, right? Whether it's the first time today or it's the thousandth time today, I want to encourage you to cry out these words, have mercy on me. Have mercy on me. And so, just like the Jews throughout the millennia who've used this Psalm to remind them to kind of properly position themselves toward God, I want us to do the same thing with it, to remind ourselves of our weakness and God's strength.

And so I'm just going to ask for you to stand.

And I want us to declare this, like I said, maybe for the first time, maybe for the 10 millionth time, it doesn't matter. But these words, part of why we're going through these Psalms is to bring these psalms to life, to apply them to our lives, not as some academic venture, but psalms that we can dig back into in times of need, in times of arrogance, in times of brokenness. So I'm going to ask you to just hold your hands out open like this for two reasons. One is a position of begging, of need, of longing, and the other is a position of receiving. Receiving.

And let's read Psalm 123 together. And let's say it. As those who are desperate, let's read these words together.

To you. I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant, to the hand of her mistress. So our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he has mercy on us, upon us. Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us.

For we have had more than enough of contempt. Our soul has had more than enough of the scorn of those who are at ease of the contempt of the proud.

Will you pray with me, almighty King?

It's laughable that we might see ourselves as anything more than lowly, needy, broken, blind servants.

Thank you for hearing our cries.

And thank you for not just letting us live in your basement and eat your scraps. But you have called us in as sons and daughters and adopted us as royalty. That's outrageous that we are coheirs with Christ. Those of us who have fallen into obedience, whose eyes are fixed on you. And yet as long as we live in this world, we keep losing our affections and losing our gaze.

And so, God, would you draw us back? Would you hear our cries again? Have mercy on us. Have mercy on us. Have mercy on us.

We are needy. We are needy. And God, for those who are hearing this right now, who are unwilling to cry out, have mercy, Lord, I pray that you just take them a step closer to you today. For those who are right on that edge and ready. Ready but afraid, Lord, would you remind them that they are surrounded by people here in this room who are desperate and needy just like them.

Would you remind them that you are a gracious and kind and generous father whose ear is open to the needy? Give us faith that we do not have, Lord. Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us. In Jesus name, amen.