Psalm 51 - Have Mercy

Transcription

1 Lent Sunday, March 5, 07 Psalm 5 - Have Mercy CATCH UP ON THE STORY: The 5st Psalm is a psalm of David after the debacle with Bathsheba. It was the time when kings go off to war, the springtime, but King David stayed home. One afternoon he was out on the palatial roof top looking at his city and what does he spy but a beautiful woman taking a bath on the roof of her house. So David thought she was good looking and decided that he wanted to meet her. He sent one of his servants over to her house to call her over. She came because when the king calls, you can't refuse. Lo and behold, it turns out that Bathsheba was married to Uriah the Hittite, an officer in David's army who was off fighting in the war. One thing leads to another and Bathsheba is pregnant with David's baby. Bathsheba sends word to David of her condition. David decides to have Uriah killed during the battle so that he could take Bathsheba for his wife. After he had done this, Nathan, the prophet at the time, confronts David with his sin. He pronounces judgment and David repents. This psalm was written as a prayer of confession and a petition for cleansing. SCRIPTURE: PSALM 5 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment. 5 Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me. therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 0 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit. 3 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. 4 Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance. 5 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. 6 For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased. 7 The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. 8 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, 9 then you will delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar. 6 You desire truth in the inward being;

2 Lent Sunday, March 5, 07 SPECIFIC DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Read the text aloud. Then, read the text to yourself quietly. Read it slowly, as if you were very unfamiliar with the story.. Why would David begin the psalm with a confession regarding God s nature?. The punishment that David receives as a result of his foray with Bathsheba is that the child they have conceived will die ( Sam. :3). In this psalm, David does not cry out for the punishment to be rescinded. Why do you think he does not do that? 3. Why does David confess that he has been sinful since before he was born? How does that make you feel? 4. Have you ever done anything for which you thought forgiveness was impossible? Share with the group if you are comfortable. Did you eventually find forgiveness for that thing? If so, how? 5. David s response to his cleansing is to go out and teach sinners the way of God. How might we do similar things? 6. David also responds with worship, but he is quick to point out what kind of worship he thinks God finds appropriate. What do you think verse 6-7 mean? How would you state those verses in your own language? 7. What is God saying to you through this psalm? SO WHAT? This psalm is essentially a prayer of confession and a petition for restoration to right relationship with God. Verses -5 include David's recognition of his sinfulness and how he has ultimately fallen short. Verse 6- then represent David's petition for restoration to a proper relationship. The final verses depict what David will do once he is restored. David knows that his actions have led to a break in the relationship between himself and God. He acknowledges that he has been sinful from the very beginning of his life and that he deserves the punishment that he will receive. But yet he doesn't desire to be separated from God. No, he wishes and hopes that God will forgive him and restore his relationship. He knows that God's power is great enough to love and forgive him despite his darkest and deepest stains. Despite David's unfaithfulness, God is still faithful. Lent is a time of reflection on the sacrifice that Christ made for us, but also who we are in the light of Christ s life. We are reminded of our sinfulness and our shortcomings during this time so that on Easter Sunday we can proclaim with confidence that our God is more powerful than our sins and shortcomings. We can proclaim that death and sin no longer have any power over us because Christ has been raised from the dead. It would be great for us to pray this psalm during Lent. May it help us to recognize who we are and our own sinfulness, but may it also help us realize that there is one who is greater than sin and death, and that greatness can be ours. May we pray, For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me and Create in me a clean heart Restore to me the joy of your salvation! 8. What are you going to do about it?

3 Lent Sunday, March, 07 Psalm 30 - Waiting CATCH UP ON THE STORY: As a Psalm of Ascents, this psalm would have been sung or recited by pilgrims as they made their way to the Temple in Jerusalem for one of the three annual Jewish festivals. The psalm is both a psalm of confession, calling to God for forgiveness, and a confident expression of hope in a God who doesn't always act when we think he should. SCRIPTURE: PSALM 30 Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications! 3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? 4 But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered. 5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; 6 my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning. 7 O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem. 8 It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities. SPECIFIC DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Read the text aloud. Then, read the text to yourself quietly. Read it slowly, as if you were very unfamiliar with the story.. The depths from which the Psalmist cries out indicated the chaos of life. It also represented the farthest away from God that one can get, either as a result of your sin or the sins of others. As a group, take a few moments to contemplate times in your life when you have felt very far away from God and in complete and utter distress. After a few moments, share with your group regarding that time.. If someone from your group is currently going through one of those times, spend some time in group prayer for that person or situation. Or, if no one shares, think of friends, relative and coworkers who might be in those kinds of situations. Call out to God that he might hear your voice of supplication. 3. How do we as a church wait with people in the depths? 4. Spend some time thinking about all of the sins for which you have been forgiven. Offer up prayers of thanksgiving for the fact that there is forgiveness with God and that he does not mark our iniquities. 5. If you are comfortable, confess some of those sins to your group. It might be

4 Lent Sunday, March, 07 advisable to divide your group by gender. Encourage each other to wait for the Lord s redemption from those things. 6. What is God saying to you through this passage? 7. What are you going to do about it? SO WHAT? From time to time we find ourselves in the pit. It is a hole, made not just of our guilt, but of all of the realities that are created by our wrongdoing. We can see no way out. The only possible outcome, aside from someone rescuing us, is death. We are in the pit because of our sins, but God does not desire for us to stay there. God is not standing by a cosmic scoreboard, making tallies every time we step out of line. If that were the case no one would be able to stand in a relationship with God. No, God's character is one of forgiveness. With this confident knowledge, we can wait, in the midst of the pit of our own making, for God to rescue us, to deliver us. We have this confident knowledge because God has proven himself to be a God of steadfast love with the power to lift us up out of our pits. As you know, Lent is a time of introspection and self-evaluation. This psalm gives us permission to confess and own our sinfulness in a way that places quiet confidence in the fact that God is not out to hold our sins against us but to rescue us from those sins. It may even be the case that sometimes, but not always, we are rescued from the consequence of those sins. So, we hope and wait, twisting with anticipation, for the God whose character is steadfast love and faithfulness to redeem us.

5 Lent 3 Sunday, March 9, 07 Psalm 95 Listen to his voice! CATCH UP ON THE STORY: Psalm 95 is what Old Testament scholars call an enthronement psalm. In fact, it is one of 8 such psalms, the others being Psalms 9, 93, (Richter, 50). An enthronement psalm celebrates, not the kings of Israel, such as David and Solomon, but the one true king of Israel, the Lord God. It is also likely that this psalm was used routinely during one of Israel s yearly religious festivals. As an enthronement psalm, this text calls Israel together to celebrate the goodness and glory of their divine King. It is for Israel, and for us too, a call to worship. Psalm 95 celebrates God s rule, not just over Israel, but over all of creation. SCRIPTURE: PSALM 95 O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! 3 For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. 4 In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. 5 The sea is his, for he made it, and the dry land, which his hands have formed. 6 O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! 7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. O that today you would listen to his voice! 8 Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, 9 when your ancestors tested me, and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. 0 For forty years I loathed that generation and said, They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they do not regard my ways. Therefore in my anger I swore, They shall not enter my rest. SPECIFIC DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Read the text aloud. Then, read the text to yourself quietly. Read it slowly, as if you were very unfamiliar with the story.. When you think about worship, how do you usually envision it? Why do we worship?. Psalm 95 is written with a common summons and reason pattern. We are summoned to act in a certain way and then we are given a reason for doing so. Verses -5 and 6-7a are two examples of this. What is the summons in verses -5 and what are the reasons given for doing so? What is the summons for verses 6-7a and what are the reasons given for acting that way?

6 Lent 3 Sunday, March 9, Verse 6 mentions bowing and kneeling down. When you bow or kneel down what does your posture communicate? Why would the psalmist suggest doing so? 4. What do you know about sheep? Why would the psalmist liken Israel to sheep? If Israel is the sheep, then God is the shepherd. What is the role of the shepherd? 5. There are two different voices represented in this psalm. Who is speaking in verses -7a and who is speaking in 7b-? 6. Look up Exodus 7:-7 and read it. Why would this story be introduced at this point in the psalm? 7. The last part of this psalm seems to be calling Israel to listen and obey the voice of God. What s the connection between a call to worship (-7a) and obedience (7b-)? 8. Respond to this statement: Worship without obedience becomes meaningless. Obedience is impossible without worship 9. What is God saying to you through this passage? SO WHAT? Once again we are confronted with a psalm that urges us to enter into enthusiastic worship. If we had our choice, we would probably concentrate our time on the first seven verses of the psalm. It is a good thing to remind ourselves of the greatness and glory of our God. It is a good thing to sing praises to God because he creates and sustains all things. It is a good thing to acknowledge the fact that God is our shepherd who seeks to protect us and save us from the dangers of this world. We must stop and listen to the second half of verse 7 and what follows it. We are admonished to listen to the voice of God. This is nothing new to us, yet we are admonished to listen to a story about how we have not listened and trusted in the past (Israel's story is our story, their failures are our failures). It reminds us that if we are going to worship and worship we must, we must also listen and obey the voice of God. As we continue to journey through the Season of Lent, may we repent of the times in which we have worshiped and not sought to be obedient. It is our hope that as you engage in worship, both together with our church body, and at various times by yourself, that you would always be open to hearing the correcting word of God and following it in obedience. 0. What are you going to do about it?

7 Lent 4 Sunday, March 6, 07 Psalm 3 Learning to follow CATCH UP ON THE STORY: Psalm 3 is one of the most beloved psalms of all time. Many people, regardless of their affiliation with church or Christianity, know or could recognize these poetic lines. It is very familiar to us. That is the trouble. Anytime we are confronted with a familiar passage of scripture, the challenge is to read it with fresh eyes and ears so that we might hear what it has to speak to us today. As you and your group prepare to read and study this psalm today, take a deep breath, clear your mind, and open it to the possibilities of receiving something new. Of course, there s a good chance that this psalm carries with it the same meaning as we have come to know and love. As with many psalms, we lack a specific context. Psalm 3 can be classified as a psalm of trust, and psalms of trust usually are formed within the context of conflict. There is no reason to believe that this psalm is different. It will speak well to us in the context of the Lenten season, where we are constantly learning, amidst all circumstances, to place our trust in the God who created and now sustains the world. SCRIPTURE: PSALM 3 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; 3 he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long. SPECIFIC DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Read the text aloud. Then, read the text to yourself quietly. Read it slowly, as if you were very unfamiliar with the story.. What is the difference between a want and a need? What are some of the things you want? What are some of the things you need?. In the first section of the psalm, the psalmist is talking about God as a shepherd. What does a shepherd do? Why does he do those things? 3. How do the sheep benefit or not benefit from the things the shepherd does? Are the sheep able to do those things for themselves? Why or why not?

8 Lent 4 Sunday, March 6, Psalm 3 is a psalm of trust. Psalms of trust are usually set in times of conflict. How does this psalm sound during times of conflict? 5. Verse 4 is the structural and theological center of the psalm. What is the central claim of verses 4? 6. In verse 5 the image shifts from sheep and shepherds to host and guest. Why would it be a big deal for the host to prepare a table for the guest in the presence of his enemies? 7. Why would the host anoint the guest s head with oil? 8. In verse 6, the word "follow" could better be translated as "pursue" or "chase." How does that make a difference when you read that verse? What does that say about God's goodness or his faithfulness? 9. God is our good shepherd and our good host. He does for us what we have been unable to do for ourselves. What is our response to those things? What happens if we refuse to lie down in green pastures or by still waters or stay on the right path? 0. What is God saying to you through this passage?. What are you going to do about it? SO WHAT? The central claim of Psalm 3 is that God is with us and for us always. In the midst of danger and darkness, enemies and death, God as the good shepherd and good host pursues us with his grace and faithfulness all the days of our life. Not only is this the central claim of Psalm 3, but it is the central claim of Israel's faith as told by the authors of the Old Testament. This is the gospel proclaimed centuries before it was embodied by the coming of Jesus Christ. The psalmist makes this testimony about the God of Israel during a time of uncertainty and conflict. It is important for us to remember this fact. During Lent, our primary goal is to prepare our hearts and minds for the death and resurrection of Jesus. We do this by confessing the ways in which we have not lived like Jesus. We confess how we have wandered from the path and have found ourselves in conflict, beaten and bruised. One of the things that allow us to examine ourselves, to remove any pretense to our own self-proclaimed righteousness, is the fact that God's goodness and faithfulness chase after us even when our wounds are of our own doing. When we fail, God is with us. When we wander off, God chases us down. So, confess. Confess your sins, your shortcomings, and your failures. Rest in the knowledge that the good shepherd loves you despite those things. Rest in the knowledge that the good shepherd is with us, rod, staff, and anointing oil in hand, ready to lead us to clean water and restful pastures. Then, be content that the places the good shepherd has led you, is the place that you need to be.

9 Lent 5 Sunday, April, 07 Psalm 33 Even as we hope Trust is no pious attitude; it is rather an act of courage that matters decisively in a genuinely risky circumstance. - Brueggemann and Bellinger, Jr. CATCH UP ON THE STORY: We do not know much about the context of Psalm 33. What is undeniable is that Psalm 33 is connected with the previous Psalm in theme. Psalm 3 ends with an imperative to give praise to God. Psalm 33 picks up that theme, expanding upon it. Unlike Psalm 3, however, Psalm 33 does not come with a heading like Of David. A Maskil. This is perhaps due to the nature of its connection with Psalm 3. We are left to look closely at the Psalm in determining a context. What becomes clear as we read this Psalm more closely is that it is likely written during a time of armed conflict in Israel. Finally, the Psalmist will draw on language and imagery that is reminiscent of the creation story in Genesis. As you study this Psalm together, keep the words of Genesis close at hand. SCRIPTURE: PSALM 33 Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous. Praise befits the upright. Praise the Lord with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings. 3 Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts. 4 For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness. 5 He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord. 6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all their host by the breath of his mouth. 7 He gathered the waters of the sea as in a bottle; he put the deeps in storehouses. 8 Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. 9 For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. 0 The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage. 3 The Lord looks down from heaven; he sees all humankind. 4 From where he sits enthroned he watches all the inhabitants of the earth 5 he who fashions the hearts of them all, and observes all their deeds. 6 A king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. 7 The war horse is a vain hope for victory, and by its great might it cannot save.

10 Lent 5 Sunday, April, 07 8 Truly the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, 9 to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. 0 Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and shield. Our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you. SPECIFIC DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Read the text aloud. Then, read the text to yourself quietly. Read it slowly, as if you were very unfamiliar with the story.. The Psalm begins with three plural imperatives: rejoice, praise, and sing. What does each of those imperatives mean? How are they similar? How are they different?. The psalmist states that the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord (Verse 5). What does that mean? 3. Why does the psalmist paraphrase for us echoes of the creation narrative? What connection does that have with worship? 4. We have established the fact that God has created the world through his spoken word. In verse 3 and what follows we hear that The Lord looks down from heaven; he sees What is God continuing to do? 5. Look at verses 6-7. The psalmist proclaims that army and war horses cannot save. Why would he mention this? What is the possible connection with the command to worship at the beginning of the Psalm? 6. As a group, make a list of the things that humanity has put their trust in for salvation. Do we ever offer worship to any of those things? 7. The final two verses of the Psalm declare Israel s intention to wait and trust in God. How does worship help us to do the same thing? 8. Personally, what things have you placed your trust in that are preventing you from worshiping properly? How can you shift your trust from those things to God? 9. What is God saying to you through this passage? 0. What are you going to do about it? SO WHAT? It is the fifth Sunday of Lent. Throughout the years, the season of Lent has been used by the church as a time of preparation. In the early church, Lent was specifically for those who were preparing to join the church through the sacrament of baptism on Easter Sunday. Eventually, Lent became a time of preparation for the entire church as it made its way toward Holy Week. We continue with that tradition. The goal of our faith is that we might look increasingly more like Christ, enjoying ever deeper communion with the God who created us, both now and for the rest of eternity. So, during Lent, we confess the ways in which we are not yet like Christ.

11 Lent 5 Sunday, April, 07 This week s Psalm helps us in that endeavor because it points out to us how we are all too often convinced that someone or something other than Jesus will save us. For Israel, the temptation was to place their trust in kings and the machinery of war. For us, the temptations vary. At times what we look at to save us is the same as Israel. This is especially true in a time where every outside group seems to be a threat to our national security. At other times, we look to money, or sex, or technology, or relationships. In our attempts to have those things save us, we end up offering them our worship. None of those things can save us because unlike the God that we say we worship, none of those things brought the world into existence with the whisper of a word. None of those things wove into the fabric of the world steadfast love and faithfulness. If we desire to worship in the way that this Psalm calls us to, we must examine if, in fact, we have placed our trust and hope in God or in something else. This week, as you live each day, ask God to reveal to you the things which you are hoping in for salvation. Confess when you are not hoping in God and then pray that God's steadfast love might be upon you so that you might hope in him. WORKS CITED: Walter Brueggemann and William H. Bellinger Jr, Psalms, New Cambridge Bible Commentary (New York: Cambridge University Press, 04). 3

12 Palm Sunday Sunday, April 9, 07 Matthew :- The humble entry CATCH UP ON THE STORY: The Gospel of Matthew is beginning to draw to a close. Jesus has been slowly making his way toward the capital city of Jerusalem. While on the way, Jesus has cured the sick, healed the blind, cast out demons, paid his taxes and been questioned by religious leaders out to get him and his well-meaning disciples alike. As readers of this Gospel, we have also been made aware that Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem to die but then be raised from the dead. One of the stories directly before Jesus' entry into Jerusalem (Matthew 0:0-8) is a conversation between Jesus and the mother of two of his disciples. The mother wishes that her two sons would sit at the right hand of Jesus when he brings his kingdom. Jesus' response to the mother and her sons shows us his understanding of the true nature of power, authority, and dignity in this world and the next. Those who wish to be great must become servants. Power, authority, and dignity belong not to those who are served, but to those who do the serving. We will need to keep this episode in mind as we look at this week's text. SCRIPTURE: MATTHEW :- When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, just say this, The Lord needs them. And he will send them immediately. 4 This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying, 5 Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; 7 they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. 8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven! 0 When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, Who is this? The crowds were saying, This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee. SPECIFIC DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Read the text aloud. Then, read the text to yourself quietly. Read it slowly, as if you were very unfamiliar with the story.. Why does Jesus choose to ride a donkey into Jerusalem? Why does Jesus choose to ride at all? (He has been walking everywhere up to this point in the Gospel).

13 Palm Sunday Sunday, April 9, 07. Read Zechariah 9:9-7. What kind of imagery does this passage evoke? How might this imagery have stirred up the crowd? 3. Read Matthew 0:0-8. What is Jesus response to the two disciples mother? What might both the disciples mother and the crowd want from Jesus? 4. The donkey, by this time in history, was thought to be a lowly beast of burden. What does this say about how Jesus perceives himself? What implications might this have for us as we seek to be like Christ? 5. If the head of Webster Groves Church of the Nazarene is a humble servant king, then what does that mean for us, the members of his body? What does this passage say about the church and its position and role in the world? 6. What is God saying to you through this passage? 7. What are you going to do about it? SO WHAT? It is probably safe to say that what the crowds saw that day was a stately and magnificent king. After all, some of them had seen Jesus do some pretty powerful things. His teaching had set their hearts on fire. Jesus was the promised Messiah who would come and liberate Israel. They failed to see, however, Jesus true nature as a humble servant. So, a few days later, these same crowds would be calling for Jesus death when he fails to deliver in the ways in which they expect. Our fate will be the same if we do not pause and reflect on the nature of Jesus' kingship as humble and lowly. The crowd that day expected Jesus to bring about political transformation to Israel. If we expect the same kind of world/culture/societal transformations from Jesus we will ultimately call for his death as well. On the other hand, if we see that Jesus' entry into Jerusalem is really humble in nature, if we see Jesus' kingship as one characterized by self-giving love and service, then we will expect different things from him. And we will understand our place in Jesus' kingdom differently too. We will not ask to sit at his right and left hands (positions of power). Instead, we will ask, how might I serve? How might I become obedient, possibly even unto death? So today, as we wave our palm branches and shout Hosanna, let us celebrate not the warrior king but the suffering servant who takes away the sins of the world.