Psalm 149. Praise the Lord. Sing to the Lord in your song, his praise and the assembly of his faithful people. Let Israel rejoice in their maker.
Let the people of Zion be glad in their king. Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with timbre and harp. For the Lord takes delight in his people. He crowns the humble with victory.
Let his faithful people rejoice in his honor and sing for joy on their beds. May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double edged sword in their hands to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples to bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron, to carry out the sentence written against them. This is the glory of all his faithful people. Praise the Lord.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Well, we are at the end of our summer series in the new song Psalms. I hope that they've been in encouragement for you during the summer as we have in many ways, hopefully been reminded of the faith that we believe and the power of the new song from Jesus in our lives.
Today we consider the second-last Psalm of the sulta. A Psalm are written for people to sing as they wait for the Lord to come, as they wait for him to come and deliver them. Today our Psalm is a song for the oppressed to sing in the face of an oppressor. As we wait for the return of Jesus, it is helpful to consider what our life is like now to know the reality that we live in and the future which awaits us all.
Please bow your heads as I pray. Father God, we thank you for your word. We pray now that by your spirit, you would help us to understand that you would change us, that you would bring us to joy in worship of you as you delight in your faithful people. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
Well, this is also the second-last Psalm of a group of Psalms known as the Hallelujah Psalms. That's what's been translated in your Bible as praise the Lord, the Hebrew word Hallelujah, a word, probably the Hebrew word that people in this room are most familiar with, I would imagine. Now one of the key things about this word is that we often say praise the Lord in a kind of exclaiming way, but Hallelujah is a plural imperative. It's a command, it's a praise the Lord.
The Psalm is calling on God's people to respond. Psalms of praise to God, we find in these group of Psalms, as they see, as people, God's people see all that he has done and that finish off the book by turning our eyes to the glory of God. The command here to sing a new song is one of movement forward to embrace what God is doing in the world and walking with him in praise and celebration. Can I request that you do keep your Bibles open if you're able to and follow along?
Because while I may not specifically say verse four or verse five at different times, you'll see I am very much working through today, verse to verse and it will help you follow along. Before I was working here at Church Hill, I was working at a church in the UK in London and we had a lot of international students. And one of the things about the international students was that they wanted to go and explore throughout all of England. And some of them were really history-orientated and there was a particular one who was very interested in medieval history.
And I knew at the time that there was a particular medieval tapestry on show in Solesbury Cathedral. So I told him to go down and have a look at it. He came back to me and told me it was awful. Which shocked me and surprised me considering this guy's interest.
He said it was all messy, hard to see, hard to understand. Now, it's important to know that the tapestry was hanging in the middle of the room. It's also worth knowing that he was the only one in that room. So we're giving him as much credit as possible because now I want to ask you, what side of the tapestry do you think this student was looking at?
That's a long way to go from London to Solesbury to look at the back of the tapestry. Perspective, the angle from which we are looking at different situations, is really important to our understanding. It's easy for us now, as we kind of mentioned before with from Ben, to feel like the kingdom of God is stagnant in this world. Like there's nothing happening, or even the opposite, that evil is raining and can't be overcome.
It's been a summer of events, both in Australia and throughout the world, that have shocked and appalled all of us. But we must look today, and the Psalm calls us today to look to the longer story. The story of the salvation of God's people taken from Egypt, all the way through to the coming of Christ, and the unstoppable growth of the church since that time. We are all as his people on a journey, and we are addressed in the next part of verse one, the faithful people.
That is you, that is me. Those who are holding to their God are to see a path forwards, that is moving forwards, and to walk with God on the journey, that our praise is to be fresh and new, because the Lord is at work in this world, in fresh and new ways and at work among us. And where does the Psalm say, the faithful people are? Well, it says in the assembly.
For us, this translates today into what we are doing right now, church. Today we are receiving at the start of the Psalm a bit of guidance on what this thing that we do every week is supposed to look like. The assembly of the faithful people singing a new song together. That they rejoice in who?
They rejoice in their maker, the one who has created us, the one who has breathed life into our lungs, who has knitted us together in our mother's womb, who has created the world in all its beauty, in all its power, in all its magnificence, who cares for the smallest insect, and for the largest galaxy. The people gather to praise the one who is above all things, yet in his glory would enter the world as a man to reach the very lowest of people. But they are also glad in their maker and in their king, that he is the one above all others, the person who has authority over all things, who rules and who we bend the need to, who takes our priority, who we give up other gods in our lives for, and who is worthy of all praise, who is our savior. Do you see how significant when putting those terms, this gathering is in the expression of worship of our God?
I'm not saying that it's the only place that we do these things, but I am saying that it's the main place, as said by this song, that it's a precious place and should be a place of great joy. It often isn't, but it should be. It is the launching point for all worship in our lives, and the pitch of the song paints is not just singing from the mouth but with instruments and of movement, of all encompassing praise that takes over those who are in worship. Now, as Anglicans, I think it's fair to say, we're not known for being particularly good at the movement part, but that's okay, because that's not the point, right?
The point isn't to take it literally, those things are great, but it's about engaging completely in the act of worship. We are called to a new song as a gathering of the faithful with fullness of heart, regardless of what the world looks like or the struggles that we may have in our life, because we look to the greater glory that is making all things new. Now, can we be too self-conscious sometimes? Reserved, maybe.
It's not really for me to say. But you are free to fully engage, however you are comfortable, right? We have clappers, we have hand-raisers, and we have those who don't do those things. Those things are amazing, but they're not the point, because what makes them amazing is the heart that is behind them, the heart behind the worship that is being expressed is all important.
And we're free to do this because of the reality of the new song. First, because the Lord takes the light in his people. It isn't just an upward act for us, but God himself delights in what we are doing. This is an immense act of love from our God towards us.
We are those who love our God, but still struggle in our sin, but he looks down on imperfect people, turning from the world and seeking to praise him. What a wonderful thing. This week, my son Matthew turned one, and I think it's fair to say that Matthew is teaching me a lot about the love that God has for me. As I look upon a small person who lives in my home, who brings me a large amount of tiredness, a large amount of stress, often anoints, dare I say, as he goes about things.
And at the same time, I had this, I just know that I would die for him, right? There's this strange, uncomfortable feeling that I have, and it's helping me to understand that when God looks at me and my failings, that he looks at me, like he looks at you, like a father upon his children. He delights in us. He is not distant, he is close.
He celebrates the wonder of what is occurring as those who once abandoned him return and give him praise and adoration. This thing that we do call church is something that brings God joy. When before him, a group of people who are still wrestling with the stresses of their life, who may have come along even though they didn't feel like it, who persist when they are feeling low, who struggle with the temptations of the world, and who are often disappointed by their church not being what they want it to be, when broken, fallen people, drag themselves before God so they can praise him. He is nothing but delighted by that.
And the praise that delights him will therefore continue the praise of the humble. Those are the ones he crowns with glory, not the impressive who may turn up, they're looking like they have everything covered, but those who are aware that they are a struggle, those who know they have progress to make, those who turn to their God, not because they have already made it, but because they know they need his help to get there, those who know they need their God for help, those who know that without him, they are lost. Can you see the beauty of the picture that this paints? I've been obsessed with verse four this week.
I've genuinely have. God delighting over his people who are doing their best. This care, this understanding, this love, shows us that we do not need to be a gathering of perfect people, but a gathering of the weak who turn in praise to our God, who is strong. Let his faithful people, as the sams says, rejoice in this honour.
This is a cause for celebration. We can see how a God who is like this would then humble himself to the cross to save us. We turn to him and he saves us. He does the work and we show the praise.
So let us rejoice. The sams pictures praise that flows out of this into the world and into every element of our life, even to our beds, whenever it kind of talks about going to our beds in Hebrew, it's kind of the same as us. It's very personal, it's intimate. It's saying this goes into every, even the private parts of your life.
As we face the difficulties of our lives, we endure, we keep walking in the new song and praising because we worship the maker, we worship the king and we worship the saviour. Our salvation is secure because of who we stand with. And that brings us to, I think it's fair to say, the more difficult part of this psalm of praise for the preacher. There are two elements to verses nine to six that I want to tackle.
The first is what this actually looks like for us and the second is the reality of judgment. Now in the context, I kind of foreshadowed this before, I think that this song was written following the exile. When God's people have returned from Babylon and they have been wholly underwhelmed by the reality of the kingdom on earth that they are living in. The temple is unimpressive compared to what it was.
They are not living lives of prosperity. In fact, it is the nations around them that are prospering. Now they are constantly being invaded and being ruled by others and they are being called to the new song in the midst of this. They feel helpless and they are struggling to see how this kingdom is going to come about.
And so the language is in terms that engage with this, poetic hyperbole to depict the reversal of oppression that will come but did not come during their lifetimes. For us, we too can feel surrounded by the prospering of nations or of sin in the world. The power does not feel like it is in our hands, that we are at the whim of economies and governments that we have no control over. But we have the benefit of knowing on account of Jesus that the reversal of oppression, that the reversal of the oppression of sin in this world and on God's people would be brought about not by the literal sword, but by the word of God.
We know that in Ephesians 6, the sword of the armor of God is the spirit. And in Hebrews 4, it declares that the word of God is sharper than any double-edged sword. And in Revelation 2, the double-edged sword comes from the mouth of Jesus. That his people, the weapon that we hold against sin, is the word of God, the gospel by his spirit.
With it, we are to shine light into the darkness, to call out sin for what it is in the world, to bring people into knowledge of him. That is how evil is defeated. And that is what is symbolized by the psalm. But more than that, there is another reality in this psalm that we must deal with.
Judgment is a reality. Jesus will return with the double-edged sword from his mouth. And in this time, he will renew the world. He will bring about the new creation that those who are righteous will shine like stars and rise to everlasting life.
But there is a flip side. That sin will be dealt with. And that those who have chosen that path over their God will face the king that they have rejected. But we do need to be responsible still in how we read these verses for us.
That we know because of Jesus, this is not a mandate for personal revenge or to move to violence, but that the work of judgment is for the Lord and him alone, and we share in the victory. That judgment is burnt on by God and we share in the victory. And that we trust that he will right the wrongs of the world. And so we refuse vengeance and instead practice the use of the sword that we have that is the sharing of the gospel.
And so for us, this is a message of hope. Hope in the return of our king. Hope in the renewal of this world. We are to gather and sing a new song to endure on the path because we know that it is going somewhere.
In Revelation 5, when all of heaven bows down to the lamb, they are singing what is described as a new song. We can be confident that the new song is the message of hope and victory. That Jesus will fulfill the promises that he has made to us. And we are heading towards a new creation when all will be right again and we will be in praise of our God.
When we are redeemed from our struggles with sin and all of its effects on the world will be gone. And this is why the psalm turns to this in the final verses, not because of fear, but because of hope. The justice is going to be done and the Lord is going to save his people. That the real power in the world is not the power that we see all around us, but in our God.
And he gives us his word and his spirit to go about his work in the world. It is the security and assurance that we have in this victory. That means we can push on together, gathering in praise of our king. Today, Psalm 149 takes us on a journey of understanding what we are doing when we gather together.
That we are called as his faithful people to gather in the assembly and to sing a new song to him. That God takes delight in this as he sees the humble who he will crown with glory. And that we continue to do so because we know that our king will make all things right again on the final day. Let us pray.
Father, we thank you for the victory that you have already won and the victory that you will win in full reality. We thank you Lord so much that you delight in us when we are at our weakest and we come to you. We pray, Father, that you would give us the strength by your spirits to seek you, to trust in your promises, and to continue to walk on this journey together with you. Hallelujah.
Amen.