Pastor Jonah Sage preached Psalm 103:7-14. He said that the Bible is a mosaic of God’s redemptive work. Lector: Lindsey Blair
Pastor Jonah Sage preached Psalm 103:7-14. He said that the Bible is a mosaic of God’s redemptive work.
Lector: Lindsey Blair
This morning we're going to try and practice what we've learned last 2 weeks.
Three step process as we search the scriptures:
What does it say?
What does it mean?
How does it reveal Jesus?
Two broad encouragements as we begin
Verse 7:
He revealed his character to Moses and his deeds to the people of Israel.
-Psalm 103:7
Step 1: What does this verse say?
Pretty straightforward here.
HE, that's God, revealed...showed us something. We didn't discover it, he revealed
Specifically, his character to Moses and his deeds to the people of Israel.
In step 1, we are asking information questions. Who what where when.
For instance:
Who is Moses?
What does "character" mean
What "deeds" is he talking about?
When did this happen?
Why did God do this?
Moses is that guy from Exodus, heard of him.
Let's look up the word "Character" in a dictionary.
Who am I kidding search it on google
Main or essential nature
God showed Moses his essential nature.
Many bibles have references in the margins or on the bottom, called concordance
These are passages that connect with each other
In this verse, you might see a reference to Ruth 3, a woman of noble character
Prov 31, a wife of noble character worth more than treasure.
These references help you understand how important character is, essential nature.
You could spend an hour just reading and discussing what "character" means here
You'll also see a note connecting Psalm 103 to Exodus 34.
Those are the what/when answers.
This first step keeps asking questions to understand a single passage.
This says that God showed Moses his essential nature in the Exodus, and God showed his deeds to the people of Israel in the Exodus.
Now we're ready for our second question, what does this verse MEAN?
Knowing what a verse SAYS is not the same as knowing what it MEANS
An individual verse is like a single tile of a Mosaic.
In this second step, we zoom out a bit and ask questions like
Why is this here?
What dots is the Bible trying to connect for me?
Is this a pattern I see repeated somewhere else in the Bible?
We're looking at the surrounding tiles of the Mosaic to try and discern if something beyond the words is being communicated here.
Remember: the Old Testament was written in the Middle East, to a people who told stories around campfires, didn't read them in libraries
They used various techniques to connect stories and help us remember them
Consider the psalms...do you know these are songs? Psalm 103 is a song.
They make us feel things and connect ideas beyond the words on the page.
Think about Star Wars. How do you feel listening to the Imperial March?
The Darth Vader song. You know it. Ominous, nervous, high alert.
Throughout Star Wars, that song is played to communicate something bad is about to happen, bad guys are here, look out.
No one says it, but the song communicates it.
The Bible does similar things with its stories, songs, and poems.
In step 1, we learned Psalm 103 wants us to think about Exodus
Specifically, Exodus 34.
God's redemption is in our minds now. Rescue from slavery.
Ten plagues, pillar of fire and parting of the sea. Ten Commandments, provision from heaven. Look what Psalm 103 sings next:
The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
-Psalm 103:8
Direct quote of Exodus 34. Ps 103 demands our imaginations go to Exodus
In Ex 34, God's essential nature is revealed. Compassionate and merciful.
With our imaginations in Exodus, we think of God choosing Moses at the burning bush, rescuing Israel from Egypt, wandering the dessert, arriving at the cusp of the promised land...only to have Israel turn from God and wish for slavery again.
The question of meaning is often answered by recognizing patterns.
God chooses, God saves, people rebel, start over. That's the pattern of Exodus.
Do we see that anywhere else? Let me break it down again:
Can you think of any stories that fit that pattern?
Sounds like Adam and Eve.
Sounds like Noah. Sounds like Moses and Israel.
Sounds like David and Solomon. Do you see?
This is the melody that carries the symphony of the Bible.
Each step of the pattern is an individual tile in God's grand Mosaic
You could pause here and just consider the stories that come to mind.
You could spend hours connecting similarities in this story to countless others.
And if you do, it will leave you with a great question: "why is God showing me this?"
If you read the Bible like a history book, perhaps you'll keep digging into archaeological details or cultural contexts.
I've spent years reading about the history of Exodus. Fascinating. Good. Interesting.
Is this pattern repeating to make me a history expert, though?
If you read the Bible like a book of morality, you'll diagnose why Israel wanted to go back to Egypt, why Moses got fussy, and how we could do better.
I've spent years studying these stories to learn how to stop sinning.
That's been helpful at times...but I keep sinning, and these stories make it seem like people keep sinning.
You read this, hear these songs, enough and you'll start thinking: we need help.
This is the tension people felt for a few thousand years
God has a promise and a plan, but we keep screwing up. We need help.
just like many of us have come to the Bible trying to stop sinning, only to keep sinning and eventually grow tired and disillusioned by this book.
It can leave us feeling helpless.
Feel the tension of Psalm 103 with Exodus 34 in mind.
In Exodus, God tells Moses:
I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But I do not excuse the guilty. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren.
-Exodus 34:7
But Psalm 103 says:
He does not punish us for all our sins
-Psalm 103:10
Which is it? Does he forgive, or does he hold the guilty accountable?
If you only look at one single tile, the Bible might just fall apart on you.
But that's because we aren't reading it with wisdom, not because something is wrong with the Bible!
Follow the pattern.
Adam and Eve: set apart, break trust. Fail. God starts over.
Noah: set apart, flood, breaks trust, fails, God starts over.
Abraham: set apart, breaks trust, God starts over.
Moses: set apart, breaks trust, fails, and on the door step of the promised land, God says he's going to start over.
but Moses quotes Ex 34 back to him and convinces God to wait.
For thousands of years, Israel told the story of chosen ones failing as they waited on God's promises.
These stories, these repeating patterns, were meant to prepare us for God's ultimate redemption.
He must be compassionate and merciful, but he won't excuse the guilty.
How can both be true?
Every time the pattern appears in the Bible, we hear the soundtrack of God building the tension in our lives, preparing us for the climax of the story.
Listen again to Psalm 103:
He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve...He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. The LORD is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
-Psalm 103:9-10, 12-13
Sin must be punished, it must be paid for. So if not by us, then who?
What is this pattern preparing us for?
Better said, WHO is this pattern preparing us for?
There must be a chosen one, but he must not fail. He must fulfill God's plan and promise. Somehow, this one will make a way for our sins to be forgiven, separated from us, and for us to become children of God.
Does anyone come to mind? How can this be? John 1 comes to mind for me:
The Lord is like a father to his children...how can this be? Does this make you think of anything else in the Scriptures?
To all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.
-John 1:12
Psalm 103 stirred a longing for the day when we would be given the right to become children of God, and that day dawned at the birth of Jesus.
We do not have to be the perfect chosen representative. Jesus was.
We do not have to bear the weight of our sins. Jesus did.
We do not have to strive to earn the right to be children of God, we just have to believe.
We have not understood the scriptures until we've seen Jesus in them.
When we find the patterns of the Scriptures, we must wrestle with them to see the face of Christ
HOW DOES THIS REVEAL JESUS TO ME?
That is the question of the Bible.
That is the purpose of the Bible. Not to teach us history or science or poetry or songwriting or ethics or any of those good and interesting things.
The Bible is God's mosaic of redemption in Christ.
When we zoom out from all the individuals scenes and repeating patterns, we see the face of Jesus.
Together, we can begin this journey of studying the scriptures with wisdom
Learn what it says, learn what it means, and see Jesus.
This will make the scriptures come alive to you like never before.
This will help you see God's nearness to you like never before.
And this will open your eyes to the beauty of Jesus like never before.
Let's pray.