Wake Us Up, Lord! | Better Together | Psalm 85
Series: Better Together
Scripture: Psalm 85
Title: “Wake us up, Lord!”
9/27/20_BetterTogether_Part6_Ps85
Bottom line: Recall what God did in the past, Pray for God to wake us up in the future, and in the meantime Trust and Obey today in the present.
Episode 1
An American Awakening
http://www.disciplingculture.com/an-american-awakening/
To the angel of the church in Sardis write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. (Revelation 3:1 – 3)
Is it possible that God could be saying these words to the American church? They seem rather stern so perhaps it might help to look more closely at the context to which they were first addressed and then ask whether they apply to us in the present day?
Complacency was the problem in Sardis and the roots of this spiritual malady lay deep in the social history of the city.
Its remarkable physical assets meant that Sardis had become the World Bank of the ancient world. Standing atop an impregnable acropolis surrounded by vertical cliffs, Sardis was the invulnerable capital of the Lydian Empire. By 549 BC, King Croesus had become, by some measure, the richest man in the world. Out of his personal resources he had funded the building of the breathtakingly beautiful temple of Artemis in Ephesus. As soon as it was completed it was immediately considered one of the ‘Seven Wonders of the World’ and for many centuries remained the largest building in the world. But that same year – 549 BC – everything changed.
In the citadel of the ‘old city’ of Sardis Croesus felt confident and secure. From here he could see the broad plain of the Hermus Valley – where the city of ‘New Sardis’ had grown up – and the teeming thousands of Cyrus’s army.
Sardis had never fallen to an attack, but that didn’t matter to Cyrus. He was determined to capture the city and confiscate the fabled wealth stored within. After careful planning he deployed his ‘Special Forces’ to climb a crack in the vertical cliffs surrounding the city. When the small force reached the tops of the walls they found the guards and the city asleep! So secure did King Croesus and his people feel that they slept through the siege. That night they died before they woke.
Cyrus the self-styled ‘King of the Medes’ was beginning to work his way through the ‘old guard’ of the kings of the ancient world, vanquishing their armies and destroying their kingdoms. Soon he would stand astride the world’s greatest Empire and be remembered in Scripture as an instrument of God’s grace (Isaiah 44:28). King Croesus would be largely forgotten, except for the proverbial saying ‘as rich as Croesus’ (usually pronounced ‘Creases’).
And this was only the first example of Sardis’ fatally complacent spirit. In 218 BC the same thing happened again but this time to the hands of Antiochus the Great. Again the attackers climbed the same crack in the same cliff and again the walls were unguarded and the city fell. Astonishing!
Somehow the church in Sardis had adopted the spirit of the city in which it was established.
How terrifying would it be to find yourself on a plane at 30,000 feet and everyone on the plane was asleep. You’d need a miracle.
"Simon...are you asleep? Couldn't you keep watch for one hour?" Mark 14:37
Jesus’ words to the church of Sardis and the story behind that (below)
Episode 2
Bottom line: God calls us to wake up revived and eager to upset the status quo (aim for a new normal) with love and power.
Psalm 85 is about revival. It’s a call to God to revive us!
Ps 85 urges us towards a holy discontentment with the status quo.
He’s asking for life that demands a gospel explanation.
I. Recall the past. (1-3)
Past: Written in past tense because he’s referring to what God has done; God has acted in history to deliver Israel many many times.
He’s recalling the past to in a sense remind God of what he’s done so he can ask him to do it again.
The exodus
The wilderness
Joshua’s campaigns
The Judges
The Kings
God turning aside his righteous indignation against their sin is merciful. The psalmist realizes that only God can turn us around so he’s calling for that in his prayer that follows.
Episode 3
II. Pray in the future. (4-7)
Future: Restore us again, God is Savior and sustainer.
He’s done this before so he’s crying out to have him do it again.
His unfailing love is one of remembering his covenant loyal love for his people.
Salvation = Mercy, forgiveness, restoration, freedom
III. Trust and obey in the present. (8-13)
Present: The appropriate way to respond to God almighty, who is to be feared and revered and trusted, is to trust and obey.
It is always right to do the right thing. It’s never right to do the wrong thing. Obedience is about doing the right thing and not doing wrong things; it’s about doing the right things and it’s about doing the right things the right way.
Listen = obey (to hear is to obey); Hebrews understood this intuitively; us no so much
Promises - God keeps his
Glory is the display of God’s righteous, just ways
An expectation of life beyond normal everyday life.
Not written during a time of spiritual awakening.
Holy discontent - calling on God to usher in a new set of conditions.
Better Question: Do we long for revival? A new normal that includes a supernatural expectation?
Revival is not something we do.
Revival is something God does when, why and how he sovereignly wants to.
Yet, the psalmist seeks it, asks for it,. And so should we.
Ps 85 urges us towards a holy discontentment with the status quo.
Not, “it is what it is”
But, “no, status quo needs to change! God, come!”
Starts asking for big things—supernatural things. Renewal, restoration, revival, resurrection.
He’s asking for life that demands a gospel explanation.
What he asks for isn’t just found in book of Acts.
“A Colony of Heaven”
Read story of 1640’s in Kidderminster, England under ministry of Richard Baxter: pp. 315-16
This isn’t normal
Have you ever prayed for things like this?
Praying Prayers Like This (Spurgeon)
Alexander the Great legend
“He does me honor. He treats me like a king and proves by what he asks that he believes me to be both rich and generous.”
Better Question: “Church, what do our prayers say about our belief in the character of God? That he is rich and generous, or that he is reluctant and economical?
“Bold prayer honors God. God honors bold prayer.” -Mark Batterson
“This psalm is meant to cultivate in us a longing for a new normal—a longing for the in breaking of God’s mercy and power in our lives, in the church, in the world.
How do we cultivate this longing?
Through/By...
I. Recalling the past. (1-3)
II. Praying for the future. (4-7)
III. Trusting and obeying in the present. (8-13)
I. “Never forget!” Should be about more than 9/11. It should be about every time God has moved in the past.
The psalmist resolves to never forget.
1-3 shows God in action in history. He is no deist.
This reminds us that God has acted and gives us hope that God still acts like this. He never changes!
II. Pray for the future. (4-7)
The psalmist cry’s out for revival because Israel still hasn’t changed even through the exile.
Now he prays, revive us! Lost. “Turn us”
Revival happens when we repent and believe. When we turn from our status quo of sin and self back to God as we trust and obey his will, word and way.
Turn us, Lord, from our status quo Pursuits. Don’t leave us here. Deliver us!
IT’s like we’ve walked back into our prison cell where we used to live surrounded by our idols of ambition, approval and appetites.
God’s ultimate judgment could be to simply give us what we pursue. (Rom 1) To let us settle for things that don’t really satisfy but we continue to pursue. Perhaps that is hell—giving us all we want knowing it will never be enough—it will never satisfy—forever.
Ephesians 2 says we were dead in our sins and trespasses. So, at the. Point we couldn’t turn. We needed God to turn us.
As a saved follower of Christ, I can call on him to turn me—to deliver me so I can walk back out of that cell again.
God wants to turn us.
Do you want him to turn you?
God turned us when we were dead.
Don’t you think he wants to turn us from our sleep?
Turn us, why?
To rejoice in God!
To enjoy life with Christ!
“God revives his church by revealing himself afresh. He shows his unfailing love.”
2 Cor 3:18
Exod 33:18 Moses’ life-changing request wasn’t “change me”. It was “let me see your glory.”
“This faith-filled prayer for a new normal is a kind of rebuke. It’s as though it’s saying that if you con’t believe personal, societal, natural, even global revival is possible, you have forgotten the power of God.”
Don’t we want to see things change?
Don’t you believe God can change things?
Don’t you believe he wants to change things?
Then pray fro him to and give him the freedom to do it as he see best.
“Christians, if we don’t pray for things that might set us up for disappointment, we’re not doing it right.”
No safe prayers!
God can!
God wants to!
He brings life to death!
“Stamp Your Feet” (Spurgeon) p. 320
Spurgeon on poor condition of the church 100 years earlier.
“When was the last time we were audacious enough to ask God to stamp his feet? We are to pray and hope as though God had options!”
III. Trust and obey in the present. (8-13)
Hear the confident faith (trust) in these verses.
He will.
Also, a call to obedience. Trust and obey.
I.e. Revival is not a passive experience. Yes, he turns u but we have a role to play. We are responsible for how we flesh out revival daily.
Ray Orland describes revival, p. 320
They must believe I’m both rich and generous.
We don’t need a new initiation as if that would trigger revival.
What we need is renewed confidence in the power and love of God at work in and through his gospel in us.
Conclusion:
“The presence of falseness in this world assaults our senses every day. We see it. We hear it. It’s all around us.
Will we recall the power of God?
Will we pray risky prayers to a God who is rich and generous?
Will we trust and obey, not only with our personal lives in view, or our local church life in view, but with a scope that is big enough to demonstrate that God’s global mission is in our hearts?”
Tim Keller notes
85:1-8 “Blueprint for Revival” - How to respond when your church community declines.
Study past seasons of revival and reformation. (1)
Repentance, acknowledging that our hard hearts and sin have put a barrier between God and us. (4-5) #judgment deserved
Cry out to God in prayer that he “show us” his unfailing love. “Revivals always involve a fresh ‘seeing’ of the gospel of grace—grasping theologically and knowing it experientially.” A renewed confidence in the love and power of God in our lives. #mercy available
”Wait on him, listening faithfully to his word.” (7-9) (trust and obey)
Tim Keller prayer:
“Lord, I’m spiritually dry; send me the water of your Spirit. I was created and destined to ‘enjoy you forever,’ yet I am not doing that even now. ‘Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?’ Amen”
85:9-13 Love and truth (faithfulness, NIV) will meet in harmony (10)
But, How can God in faithfulness:
Punish sin, yet also (Judge)
in love, embrace sinners? (Forgive)
By sending Christ to reconcile all things in heaven and earth by making peace through his blood (Col 1:20).
“When Jesus bore our punishment on the cross, love and holiness “kissed” - they were both fulfilled at once.”
Love without holiness is mere sentiment.
Righteousness and law without a grasp of grace is Pharisaism (legalism)
Each of us tends to lean one way or the other.
“But the Gospel keeps truth and love together in our lives.”
Other notes
Notes
Psalmist calls on the Lord to once again restore his people into a right relationship with their God and Savior.
God disciplines his people.
God judges all people.
Psalmist calls for revival (awakening).
“Show us (reveal to us) your unfailing love, LORD, and grant us your salvation.” V. 7
Save us from what?
Hell and a Christless hereafter.
Despair and a Christless here and now.
Listen to God: He promises peace to his people (8).
Salvation is near to those who fear Him.
Salvation is for here and now, and hereafter.
Love and Faithfulness meet
Righteousness and Peace kiss