THE JOY ADVENTURE Group Curriculum December 14, 2014 Sermon Passage: Luke 2:15-20 Curriculum Passage: Psalm 103:1-5

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1 THE JOY ADVENTURE Group Curriculum December 14, 2014 Sermon Passage: Luke 2:15-20 Curriculum Passage: Psalm 103:1-5 Introduction In November 2009, David Crowder, formerly the front man for the modern worship group David Crowder*Band, gave an interview to promote the release of the group s most recent worship album, Church Music. As typical with the eccentric, highly educated Crowder, the topics of the interview covered an extremely broad spectrum of categories. As the interview moved back toward the more typical interview questions for musicians, the matter of inspiration behind certain songs came up. The interviewer begins to ask Crowder about the pervasive topic of joy in much of the band s music. In a moment of candor, that artist answers that when he sings about joy, he is singing of a place he wants to be, fighting his inward tendency toward bleakness and cynicism. Being completely taken aback by this response, the interviewer asks about one of the band s songs from an earlier album, entitled You Are My Joy. Crowder explained that the song came about from an experience in an airport at the end of an unspeakably horrible day in which everything went wrong. Upon finally reaching the airport and getting ready to symbolically end the day by leaving for the next city, the band stepped onto a moving walkway to then see the icing on the cake. As they slowly passed by a window, through which they could see the plane they would be boarding, they saw all of their gear in cases fall from the cargo hold of the plane and smash on the ground 10 or so feet below. It s true of human nature that our own personal catastrophes seem to be the worst catastrophes of all. So at a place of tremendous frustration and anger, Crowder found himself at a crossroads as to how to respond to this culminating event. What he chose was joy. He thought to himself, Maybe I could sing myself to somewhere better. So when we hear the almost chant-like lyrics of the song s chorus proclaiming You Are My Joy! in feverish repetition, we understand that choosing joy in the midst of situations that would rob us of anything resembling joy is an intentional, relentless wrestling match that is defiant of the circumstances around us in their attempts to remove our gaze from the joy of the Lord. One of the greatest misconceptions about joy is that it comes to us while sitting in a grassy meadow on a warm, breezy spring day. To the contrary, joy exists in and above every situation we encounter. That s the essential difference between happiness and joy. Happiness is an emotional response to our circumstances. Joy is the lens through which we view our circumstances. Psalm 103:1-5 provides an excellent example of how we set our focus on joy because of who God is. Biblical Background Psalm 103 is one of only two Psalms specifically attributed to David in the fourth book of the Psalter. Within Psalms, there are three primary genres of psalms: thanksgiving, praise, and lament. Of those three types, lament is the most popular. Psalm 103, however, is a praise psalm 1

2 in which David rouses himself to praise God. This is typical of the praise genre of Psalms, which are distinctive in their containing appeals, either to an individual or a group, to praise God in a specific way. Praise psalms focus on the virtues of God that are loftier, grander, and holier than what man can achieve. Frequently, they use the antithesis of man s behavior and fallen condition as a way of highlighting the majesty of the Almighty. If we were to read the entirety of Psalm 103, we would see that David actually traces God s favor in dealing with his people from the events of creation. Doing so allows his readers to grasp the scope and timelessness of God s sovereign kindness in his loving relationship with his people. There is no specific historical marker, though, to allow us to pinpoint the time during David s life that this Psalm was written. The Text In the portion of Psalm 103 that we will be looking at this week, the speaker focuses his attention on himself individually. That is an incredibly important realization because it underscores the need to discipline ourselves toward joy. Or, in easier terms, to choose joy. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! (Psalm 103:1) As pastor and author James Montgomery Boice notes, this first verse answers the question of how it is a person should praise God. Summarily, praising God should be done with our whole being. This is a great point of correction for the way worship is commonly perceived. In our contemporary culture, worship is largely viewed as a feeling, experience, or elation having to do with music or a worship service. While that is certainly a part of what praising God means, it is just that a part. David directs himself to bless God (using the covenant name, Yahweh ) with all his inmost parts. That refers not only to his voice, but also to his heart, his will, his mind, everything. David is commanding his whole being to engage in worshiping God, extolling his glorious virtues in every way he can conceive of. This is the starting point of joy. Until the believer can discipline himself or herself to not allow the exterior circumstances of life to tarnish and derail the ability to praise God, joy will be a faroff reality. Joy is predicated on understanding who God is and then orchestrating our lives and our worldview to reflect that belief about God. This is quite a different approach to the default approach to worship that is reactionary, based on what we have experienced in the preceding days, weeks, months, etc. We must decide that we will worship God because he is God. That is the first step toward joy. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, (Psalm 103:2) The second question answered pertains to why, according to our personal experience, we should praise God. The speaker commands his whole self to bless God because of the immeasurable good and favor he has demonstrated toward the speaker. Forgetting is like a cancer to the praise that leads to joy. Forgetting, which is something we all struggle with as humans, means that all of the ways in which God has blessed us in the past fade in our spiritual memory. Even if we remember the actual event itself, the power and magnitude it had when it first occurred is forgotten. One of the clichés we use to describe this effect is that the shine has gone from the 2

3 apple. The distance in time from God s intervening in our lives has the result of making that event s occurrence, whatever shape it might have taken, seem familiar and blasé. Proving yet again that David struggled just as we do, David commands himself to not forget, but to remember the Lord s many benefits. That remembrance does not refer to a mere acknowledgement that the benefit of the Lord occurred. No, it refers to the retelling of one s own story so that the anguish of the need that God relieved is remembered. The provision that was desperately lacking is relived to the extent that one almost feels the hunger pangs in the retelling. Remembering means reliving, in the fullest way we can make it possible. To ensure that the Psalm s readers did not leave this advice as a general encouragement, David pushes to the specifics of God s benefits. who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle s. (Psalm 103:3-5) David now begins to enumerate the various ways that he counts the benefits of God. The list actually continues through verse 19, but the sampling in the verses above are more than sufficient to help us realize the exceeding cause for us to be joyful. First of all, and rightly so, David begins with the benefit of the forgiveness of sin. But, so as to make sure the breadth and depth of God s grace is realized, David is careful to qualify it as being ALL of your sin. Many conservative scholars understand the second personal pronoun in these verses ( you ) to show David continuing the conversation with himself. Certainly David had no short list of examples for when his own sinfulness cried out for the merciful forgiveness of God. That can make his well-known moniker a man after God s own heart seem strange. It shouldn t. David wasn t a man after God s own heart because he never sinned. He was a man after God s own heart because when he realized his sin, he responded with contrition and humility, repenting of his sin in absolute brokenness (Psalm 51). David was keenly aware, as much as mortal man can be, of the lavish grace of God to forgive the sins of the broken-hearted. Second, David moves from spiritual sickness to physical sickness by noting that it is God who heals all his diseases. This not to say that God definitely heals all physical illness for those who are saved. To say so would be terrible theology and biblically indefensible. Rather, this is David testifying of God s healing of his own diseases as he commands himself to remember the way God has benefitted him. For us, the important understanding is that God is not merely a spiritual God, but has sovereignty over all spheres of existence even physical sickness. He is the Great Physician. Third, God is the one who redeems your life from the pit. This benefit reinforces the previous one because Sheol is the realm of the dead. When David states that God redeems life from the pit, he refers to the extent of God s power to heal no matter the severity, even from the very brink of death. Even in the midst of utter hopelessness, God is hope. Fourth, David refers to the covenant relationship between God and his people, describing it as being crowned with steadfast love and mercy. The term for steadfast love and mercy is closely related to God s covenant name given to Moses in Exodus 3 Yahweh. David is effectively saying 3

4 that one of the benefits of God is that his care and provision for his people is based in the unfailing love and faithfulness that his own character demands. Finally, David reminds himself (and us) that God is the giver of all good things so that we are refreshed. God satisfies us with good things of various sorts that lead to our youth being prolonged. Obviously that doesn t mean that we do not age. Rather, it means that the goodness of God invigorates our souls and fulfills us. God never intended for our lives here to be drudgery until we get to heaven. He loves to bless his children. The second step toward joy, then, is realizing the intimacy with which God treats each of us. That s what David is doing. It was not enough for him to say that God was good and worthy to be praised. David specifically listed the ways in which he had experienced that truth coming alive in his own journey with God. The Text in Life Advent is one of the most enriching times of the year for us to focus on joy; not because joy is any more possible, but because Advent is especially centered on the greatest fulfillment of why we can have joy in the first place! If we read back through Psalm 103:1 5 with an eye on the birth of Christ, we can clearly see how he is the ultimate fulfillment of everything David mentions. It is through the work of Christ on the cross that God ultimately forgives all iniquity. During Christ s earthly ministry, disease and sickness were healed through a touch of his hand or an authoritative word of his mouth. He is the ultimate redemption of our lives from the pit because he removed the sting of death. He is the only One who can ultimately satisfy us, so that we no longer hunger and no longer thirst. The coming of Christ as a child shows the extent and depth of love that God has for us, sending his own son to us so that we can be with him! The joy that is ours if we profess Christ as Savior, though, is equally susceptible to fading if we do not heed the words of David in Psalm 103. As much as it logically makes sense for the Christmas season to draw us to worship, many times it has the exact opposite effect. So what are we to do? First, we can choose joy. There is nothing overly mystical about doing this. It begins with a simple heartfelt prayer daily to dwell in the awareness of God s presence and blessing in our lives. Doing so sets our mind s focus before the day begins to have a focus on God s presence and not any of the other lesser distractions that will hurl themselves in our path. Just like David in Psalm 103, this will require commanding our whole being to acknowledge and worship God. But without it, joy will elude us. Second, we can retell our own story with God. Sometimes we retell it to ourselves, reminding ourselves of how God has shown himself strong on our behalf in specific instances in our lives: when he has provided for a need; repaired a seemingly irreparable relationship; gently moved our hearts to repentance and reconciliation; comforted us in tragedy; etc. Sometimes, we tell our story to others, sharing about the goodness of God in our lives and how the gospel has changed us. Third, we can make it a priority to worship together. There is a rejuvenation and exhilaration of the soul that happens when the Body of Christ assembles together to praise his name. That certainly happens in worship services, but it also happens in biblical community. How is your 4

5 small group celebrating the joy of Jesus together? How is your fellowship drawing you to Jesus? Who are you inviting to join your fellowship that needs to experience what you re experiencing? All of these are indispensable parts of pursuing healthy, vibrant joy in the believer s life. Questions for Consideration 1. How would you explain the difference between happiness and joy to someone? 2. What are some ways that you retell the story of your walk with Jesus? 3. When you read David s list of the benefits of God, which ones resonate with you most deeply? What benefits would be on your list based on your personal experience? 4. What are some of the good things that God has brought into your life recently that have satisfied you and invigorated your spirit? 5. Would you say that the season of life you are in right now easily lends itself to joy? Or is joy more of an intentional discipline? Who are you sharing that with? 6. Whose joyful spirit has made the most profound impact on you? What are some specific ways that you ve noticed their lives to be different? 5