The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 15: Better Than Life

Episode Date: July 31, 2022

2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. 3 Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. – Psalm 63:2-3 Do you see the gospel as merely practical, or do you see Jesus as beautiful and soul-satisfying? The gospel offers us so much more than a religious belief system that doesn’t end in hell. The gospel offers a beautiful journey of discovering and deepening a relationship with JESUS.

Amen, amen. My name is Cam Triggs. I'm excited to bring the Word of God to you guys this evening. If you have a copy of God's Word, turn with me to Psalm 63, as already read through the video. And if you permit me to title this message, it would simply be put, The Good Life. The Good Life. As you find your way in the Bible or open your app, I want you to know, pastors have to have various difficult conversations. You may not know that. Maybe some of you do. Maybe you're on the receiving end of a difficult conversation with the pastor. On one occasion, there was a difficult conversation the pastor had to have because there was

somebody in the choir that could not sing. In fact, so bad that it threw off all the other members. The choir director goes to the pastor and says, Pastor, I've tried to have the conversation, could you please talk to Mr. Jones and let him know that he can no longer be in the choir? We try to utilize him. We try to make it work, but it's not going to happen. Pastor goes and meets with Mr. Jones.

Talks about other service opportunities in the church. Maybe just move him around on the bus. And Mr. Jones responds to the pastor, says, no way, pastor, I love singing in the choir. This is where I'm called. This is where I'm going to be. Why would you even ask me to serve somewhere else? The pastor says, well, several people have told me that you can't sing.

Mr. Jones says, well, that's no problem. Several people have told me you can't preach and you're still here. Funny story, but maybe it leads to a prompting question as we look at Psalm 63. Why are you still here this evening? I mean it. Why are you here? Why are you still living? Why are you still at 1122?

Why are you still in that marriage? Why are you still committed to parenting? Why are you still firm in? the faith. Why are you still here? Because the truth is, if we're honest, many of us are walking in the wilderness like David in this song. So what it says in Psalm 63 says that this is a Psalm that David pens when he's in the wilderness of Judah. And this evening, there's some people that are going through dark seasons of sickness, a valley of financial scarcity, caves of depression. You're in the depths that are dark when you look at your parenting situation. You've battled

physical and mental burnout, and you feel like right now, you're in the wilderness. And the question that rings out from your heart is, does life get any better? You're still here, though. Still here, not because of hope of merely better circumstances, but you're still here because you know you have hope in an all-sufficient God. You are here because God is God. And that's the reality of Psalm 63. David says, I'm going through the wilderness, but my my eyes are on God. See, in our text, David is in the wilderness, and it's an experience that even the best of God's children will go through.

You may be reminded that in the Old Testament, Israel wanders in the wilderness. See, that David grows in the wilderness. In the New Testament, Jesus is tempted in the wilderness. See, some of us will go through the wilderness because of our sin like Israel. Some of us will face worldly opposition like David and other. Godly leaders. Some of us will be led into the wilderness by God's providence to prepare us, but regardless, you will go through the wilderness. Some of you are in the wilderness right now. Some of you have come out of the wilderness. And maybe this message seems like it's not for you,

but can I just guarantee you some of you are going into the wilderness? So maybe this is a message to say for later. The backdrop is 2 Samuel, chapter 15 through 19. 2 Samuel chapter 15 through 19 David is going through some family conflict his son Absalom that is strong and charismatic as bitter with David and his leadership and so he creates a rival kingship and he creates this a rival nation and he is opposing David and David fears a surprise attack from his son Absalom so he retreats from his palace he retreats from a place of safety but he finds himself in the wilderness. And it doesn't end well.

They actually do go to war. 20,000 people die. Absalon, his son, is killed by the general of David, Joab, and David will lament his death. See, the truth is, in the wilderness, there is isolation and there is darkness. And when we are in the wilderness, the questions of our heart rise to the top.

Begin to ask with all this opposition and all these obstacles. Is God really as powerful as he says he is? As God really as present as he said he would be? Now, the beautiful thing that I think we can get from Psalm 63 that I'm sure you have heard from this stage is this. We don't follow God for a better life. We follow God because he is better than life.

That is a sustaining power in Psalm 63. That is the anchor. Notice, not the change of. of circumstances, not the alleviation of suffering, but a God who is with you in the wilderness who is better than life itself. The wilderness, listen to me friends, is a dark, dark backdrop that you can take the diamond

of God's goodness and shine it off to a watching world to show God is good even when the pain is near. Psalm 63's, it says, a Psalm of David, was in the wilderness of Judah. God. He's calling out to God. That's where his attention is towards. You are my God. Now the attention turns into affection. I eagerly seek you. I thirst for you. My body faints for you in a land that is dry, desolate, and without water. So I gaze on you in the sanctuary to see your strength and your glory. My lips will glorify you because your faithful love is better than life.

So I will bless you as long as I live. At your name I will lift up my hands. You satisfy me as with rich food. My mouth will praise you with joyful lips. First thing we see in verses 1 through 5 is simply this. God is a delight in the desert. Or you can put it this way. God is dessert in the desert.

Here the psalmist David is saying that he has a taste for God. He has a hunger for God. He yearns for God. He has a thirst for God. He seeks God even in the wilderness. The suffering he faces pushes him into God instead of away from God. I love the way that Charles Spurgeon put this.

He said, may I kiss the waves that throw me against the rock of my salvation. That's what David is saying here. That this suffering and this wilderness has an end. increased his hunger and his thirst for God. And he says he thirst only for God. Now, friends, as we read the New Testament and light of the Old Testament, don't you see the connections of John chapter 4 here? When Jesus talks to the woman at the well who was broken and in this cycle of sin and she is an outcast,

Jesus comes to her and says, I see you and I want you to know I am the living water. And when you drink from me, you will never thirst again. That is the invitation of the gospel of Jesus Christ that we believe Jesus lived the life we should have lived, that Jesus died the death we should have died. On the cross, Jesus takes our sin and in exchange gives us his righteousness. He rose from the dead with all power.

He is soon to come again. Anybody who confesses Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior shall be saved, and we will drink from that living well, and we will never run dry. Notice what David says about this land. He says, I thirst for you. My body faints for you because I'm in a land that is dry, desolate, and without water. It's a trifold predicament here.

It's dry means my thirst won't be fulfilled. It's desolate or weary. There's no hope of harvest or my hunger being fulfilled. And it's without water. There's no hope that it will be hydrated ever again. But he still has God, and he still praises God. Can I just say to you, sometimes when all you have is God, you realize all you need is God. And that's one of the sweetest places you can ever be in this Christian journey.

He says that what God comes to you and says to you, give me the stuff because the Savior is enough. Give me those things that have distracted your vision on me so that you can focus on how good I am to you. That's what happens in verse two. He says, so I gaze on you in the sanctuary to see your strength and your glory. My lips will glorify you because your faithful love is better than life. He says, I gaze upon God in the sanctuary. I worshipped him. I spent time with him.

And so when things go wrong, I don't go looking for him. Because I've been walking with him. I've been spending time with him. May you be encouraged from Psalm 63. Time spent with God is never time wasted. it. Here he was depositing in his soul because he knew the world would make withdrawals. And here he had this reservoir of this experience of God in his glory and his strength. And he wants the presence of God even in the wilderness. He will worship God.

Listen to what it says because of his faithful love, steadfast love. The word in the Hebrew has said it's this idea of loyalty. Man, this is so beautiful. God is loyalty. you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Regardless of what the suffering in your life may say, regardless of what the enemy may whisper in your ear, regardless of your struggle and your battle with sin, God says, I will never leave you and I will never forsake you. And when he tastes this loyalty, he says, it's better than life. I experience this faithful has said loyalty from God, and I rather die than I'd have it.

So what does he do? He worships. In verse four, he says, So I will bless you as long as I live. At your name, the mention of your name, I will lift up my hands. You satisfy me as with rich food. My mouth will praise you with joyful lips. Friends, I love this.

David is like Pastor Cam through the Chick-fil-A line. He's a satisfied customer. He's tasted, and he has seen. that the Lord is good. You know, I think sometimes that's a problem in American Christianity. Sometimes we talk about God more than we actually talk to him. And sometimes we are travel agents selling tickets to places we haven't been. And we tell people how good God is, but we don't spend any time with God.

We tell people how great God is. but if we're honest, we don't even see God beautiful in our own lives. The truth is, some of us don't see God as that text says, the richest food. He says, you will satisfy me as with rich food. It's the idea here that you will pause, taste, and see that the Lord is good. It is a wealthy and healthy meal. God is telling you, when you have this sensation in your heart that you need fulfillment or satisfaction, and don't go to McDonald's, go to Chick-fil-A.

No, actually, it's a little bit deeper here. He's saying this is the richest food. He's saying go to three forks. Ruth Chris, Capitol Grill. I want you to go to Grandma's house during Thanksgiving. This meal is satisfying. But the problem is, instead of going to this richest, wealthy, healthy meal, a lot of us settle for hurricane snacks.

and junk food. You know what those things are in our life that we turn to in the wilderness? Those places that we turn to that try to relieve our stress, get our focus off of it, take our attention away from those things that are making us depressed in that manner. You know what those things are called idols? They're false gods. Sometimes those could be good things that we have made God things and we elevate them above God. So when we're in the wilderness, instead of running and gazing to God in the sanctuary, we go and fill our hearts and our minds with things that will never satisfy us or give us the healing we need. How do you know if I have an idol in my life?

Let me just tell you. You will sin to get it or sin if you don't get it. When you're in the wilderness, you grab for these things, right? I mean, you would sin to get it. I need comfort. I need peace. I need more money. I need more affection.

I need more pleasure. I need more power, and if I can get it through the providence of God, I will get it through the power of my own means. I'm willing to lie for it. I'm willing to steal for it. I'm willing to circumnavigate the providence of God so that I can have it, and I'm willing to break God's commandments because really I'm God. Or what in your life that if God took it away, you would sin and throw a toddler temper tantrum? You'll be angry, you'll be jealous, you'll be bitter, you would close up, shot on your Christian faith because you would say, God, how in the world could you allow that to happen to me or take that away? And you would have anxiety, anger, or bitterness.

And a lot of times these things that are idols, good things that have become God things, are the termites of our time, talent, and worship. Here's the thing that the wilderness shows us. A lot of times, we don't have idols, the idols have us. They over promise and underdeliver every time. And the idols say, come to me and I will satisfy your soul. But you find out the soon as I take that idol on, I find out that it only left me thirstier than I was before. The idols lied to us to say,

eat me and you will go ahead and have this satisfaction. In the moment I could soon, I'm hungry than I was before. You know, in Thomas Constain's history of the three Edwards, it talks about this Duke named Raynall III. He was a 14th century duke, got into a spat with this younger brother, Edward, and Edward ended up winning. Now, Edward didn't want to make the people of the country and surrounding nations mad, so instead of killing his brother, Raynauld, he put him in a prison. But he told him he could leave whenever he wanted to.

There was windows, there was doors. And he said, Raynold, as soon as you leave this prison, I will give back to you all of your property and even your title. The only problem, Raynault III was drastically overweight. And the windows and the doors of that facility were drastically small. And in order for Raynall to escape, he would have to drop a significant amount of weight. But Edward would tempt him with delicious foods and delicacies every day so that Raynold would never reach the weight to escape. Listen to me. Raynauld was a slave to his own appetite.

And so are some of us. And we will always be until we feast on God, until we have a hunger to know God. Even in the valley, we cannot be free until you feast on the bread of life, until you drink of the living water of Jesus. And the questions for me and for you are, do you hunger for His Word?

Do you hunger for His presence? Do you hunger for His wisdom? Do you hunger for His grace? Do you hunger for His mercy? Do you hunger for His power? Do you hunger for his love? Do you hunger for his direction and his care? Because that's what God wants to feed us.

Leonardo da Vinci, as soon as he was done painting the Lord's Supper, he brought in a friend to evaluate the painting. The friend gave many accolades so much so that he began to focus on the cup that the Lord was using and to institute the covenant. And so Leonardo da Vinci blacks out the cup. And he said, why would you do that? And DaVinci said,

nothing should distract one's attention from the Lord. Man, God is asking you in the wilderness, what are you willing to blot out in this season of your life so you can pause and gaze on the splendor, the joy, and the beauty of Jesus Christ? Because it's only him that died for you. It's only him that lived a perfect life. It's only him that rose from the dead.

And it's only him who has enough power to turn your grave into a garden. Now, the second. point that is mighty here is that God is a defense and the face of danger. Notice the way this Psalm ends. It's not merely about delight, it's also about protection. It also says that the wilderness can be a dangerous place to be. Verse 6, he says this, when I think of you as I lie on my bed, I meditate on you during the night watches.

because you are my helper. I will rejoice in the shadow of your wings. I follow close to you. Now, some of us in the American context, I know when I was reading this text before really studying it further, I'm thinking David is almost having like a romantic comedy scene here.

He's like Jennifer Aniston, sitting on her bed, thinking of Adam Sandler. At night, there are parts, and he just has this heart longing for God, and you can see the thought bubble and the hearts and the Cupid's pop out of his mind. And he's just having this romantic Valentine theology

of just wanting to have this love festival God. But that's not really what's happening in the text. Listen, it's nighttime. You're in the wilderness. It's dangerous. He is saying the sun has gone down. I can't see anything around me. There are no lights, no technology, no guns, no protection.

There are people that my soul. son is leading who want to kill me. There are animals out there that want to kill me. There are weird noises being made that I don't know what animal is out there. And here's what I do. I meditate on God's protection. I say to myself, even as I lie down on my bed and I go to sleep, I cannot protect myself, but God neither sleeps nor slumbers. I meditate on God during the night watches when I am dozing off and I cannot protect myself. God is a defender of the week. Friends, should this be encouraging to us to know that many of us who are working hard to protect ourselves or provide for ourselves, that God can do more if you put it in his hands?

See, many of us aren't willing to rest. Many of us aren't willing to give our cares to the Lord because we trust ourselves on the night watch. God is saying, I need you to surrender to me and trust in my goodness. And I love the way verse 9 goes. He says, but those who intend to destroy my life will go into the depths of the earth. They will be given over to the power of the sword. They will become a meal

for jackals. My interpretation of this text, they will die and be eaten by animals. It's kind of tough, isn't it? I mean, I don't know about you. I don't necessarily want to pray this way all the time.

feel a little weird. God, I pray, my enemies die by sword and are eaten by wild dogs. You know, there's a subcategory in the Psalms. They're called imprecatory Psalms. The word imprecatory literally means a curse. Now, there are some people that are scholars like C.S. Lewis to say, there's really no place for these imprecatory Psalms in the life and mind and practice of the Christian.

There's other scholars that would say, yes, we can pray these particular Psalms because there's imagery and there's context. Here's what I want you to understand by this hard language and this Psalm. These are meditations not to be enacted in our actions, but to be molded into our affections. God is saying from these Psalms, I want you to have a disposition against sin and to pray for God to triumph over all of our enemies. That God wants us to pray in the world that we would have victory to see

those who are unborn protected in the womb. That God wants to say to us that we want to have a prayer life that wants to see justice take place in our nation, that wants to see God reign in our nation, and that isn't necessarily for us to pray against our enemies, but to actually pray for our enemies. because we want to pray on earth as it is in heaven.

On earth as it is in heaven. Here's what happens when this happens. Verse 11, he says, but the king will rejoice in God. Oh, who swear by him will boast, for the mouths of liars will be shut. He's saying, I will rejoice in God. Notice the polarization in text.

I will rejoice, I will boast, I will be loud in my praise and worship, but the scoffers and the liars, their praise will be shut up. I will be loud, but they will be silent. And there's this idea that I can rejoice, but also rest. Because the moment I begin to worship, I've already won the war. The moment I place my faith and my trust as God as my defender, I have already won the battle. Don't you know that the Union Pacific Railroad was being built? And there was a mighty feat.

And the builder did something to demonstrate the trustworthiness of this particular bridge. He loaded up a train with two times the weight capacity to pass over the bridge. The builders turned to the contractor and said, what in the world are you doing? Are you trying to break the bridge? The builder said, no, I'm trying to prove that the bridge will not break. Friends, it's the same thing with God. See, as we think about this, this isn't necessarily about our own strength in the wilderness. We have to have a New Testament theology that crosses over to Matthew chapter 4,

where Jesus is in the wilderness and he is tempted by the Satan, Satan, and yet Jesus wins and he overcomes. And he shows that he is the faithful and obedient son to God. that Jesus says there will be many tribulations in this earth, but be of good cheer. Why? I have overcome the world. So the idea is that we trust in Jesus as the bridge that will never be breaking, and we trusted Jesus as a good shepherd that will guard our life, that we trust Jesus, that us are protector, that God is the only defense that will not break. See, you may put your trust in friends, but they can let you down. You may put your trust in finances, but money can rind out. You may put your trust in family, but they can disappoint. But Jesus is reminding us, put your trust in him

because he will sustain you and protect you. And it's only in the wilderness where you get this vision of God. It's only in the wilderness. And that's why it cultivates, listen to me, a richer worship life. I want theologian put it this way. Those who know him best worship him most that our knowledge of God

and flames are love. love for God. So what the psalmist is saying in Psalm 63, we don't follow God for a better life. We follow him because he is better than life. And we don't worship God merely to try to change our circumstances. We worship God because even in our circumstances, he is the bread of life.

He is the living water. We sing because we can't keep him to ourself. We pray because we can't keep him out of us. We praise because we can't keep him to ourselves. We shout because we can't keep him to ourselves. because we can't keep him to ourselves. We yell because we can't keep him to ourselves. We share the good news because we can't keep him to ourselves.

So this is all of an overflow of God in our life that the moment we realize who God is, he begins to cultivate this worship in us to share the good news with everybody. Now, in a moment, here's what we're about to do. We're going to celebrate what we would call the Lord's Supper. at the time when believers come together and gather around an ordinance given by Jesus that says

this is my blood of the new covenant that was shed for the remission of sins the forgiveness of sins take away all shame and sin and guilt says Jesus saying my body was broken for you that on the cross that Jesus took hell so you might have heaven now listen to me for my friends that are not believers

Here's what I'm saying to you. You don't need those elements. You need what they represent. There's no better time for you to say, God, I'm in the wilderness. I don't know what's going in my life. I feel like things are dark. I feel like things are going bad. I ended up here in this worship service.

I'm hearing that you are greater than those particular things. God, I need to accept you into my life. You need the drink from the well that never runs dry. In World War II, there was this bomber that went down. five men in the Pacific Ocean. Two of them went crazy, drunk overboard. One of them died

unexpectedly. Twelve days stranded at sea. Two men left. They're going to dehydrate because the truth is they can't drink anything else around them because it would lead to their demise. Temporary satisfaction, but ultimately lead to dehydration.

But on one neck, it rains. It's a downpour. a bucket fills up the man drinks the water he tries to tell his friend drink from this cup but this friend is so

demented at that moment and dehydrated that it refuses and he thinks it's sea salt and he ends up dying when he's finally rescued he says the night before you found us it rained

and the raft caught a pell of fresh water I tried to give something to my buddy but he wouldn't take it then he flipped over and he began to beat the pillow and punched the pillow and he said, oh, if only he had drunk the water I offered him, he would have lived.

Friends, I come to you with living water. Man, this land, this world is a dry, desolate place without water. It will leave you empty over and over again. And I know I've been there. I've drunk from other wells in this world. And the only thing that satisfied that left me with a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment was Jesus Christ himself.

Man, in this moment, as we celebrate what Jesus has done for us, would you pray, Jesus, I believe you lived the life I should have lived. I believe that you died, the death I should have died. On the cross, you took six to seven inch nails and your hands a spike through your feet. You were lifted up. And you said, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Because the wrath of God fell on you so that you would die in my place. I want you to accept that tonight.

The wilderness is hard enough, friends. But I could tell you, you don't have to follow God for a better life. You can follow him because he's better than life tonight. He will sustain you. He will strengthen you. And he is a deliverer and a protector of those who call upon his name. Can we pray? Father, right now in the name of Jesus.

I pray for my friends who are walking through the, the valley of the shadow of death. They need to know Jesus as the good shepherd. They need to know Jesus as the greater David, who was in the wilderness, tempted and tried and never failed. They need to meet you tonight. They need to know you in a personable way tonight. So, God, I'm praying that in the chamber of their own heart,

you would save them. And the solace of their own seat that you would come to them and show them who you are. That they would see the splendor and the beauty of Jesus Christ tonight and confess him as Lord and Savior in their life. That they would believe that Jesus has risen from the devil with all power and that he is soon to come again. I pray for my friends who are Christians walking in the wilderness right now.

Now I pray that they would gather at this table as we celebrate Jesus' body being broken for us and his blood being shed as a victorious party as a way for us to remember Jesus has overcome the world. And even though this land is a dry and desolate place without water, we have a well that never runs dry.

Oh, precious is the flow that comes from Emmanuel's veins. Would we find that there is power in the blood of Jesus because He has risen from the dead. Would we sing to the top of our lungs as a team who knows it's already finished?

It's already won. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.