- Preacher: Zac Collins
- Sermon Series: Psalms of Ascent
- Sermon Title: I Lift Up My Eyes to the Lord
- Scripture: Psalm 123Due to technical difficulties, the beginning of the service was not recorded. We are sorry for the inconvenience. The transcript of the missing portion can be found below.
What a gift this book of Psalms is to us. Eugene Peterson paraphrasing Athanasius from the 4th century said, “...Scripture speaks to us; the Psalms speak for us.” If you’ve spent any time in them you have to admit that these poems or songs are great at stirring our affections and imaginations and helping us express our hearts to God. We will continue to see that in our text today.
To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens! 2 Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he has mercy upon us. 3 Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us, for we have had more than enough of contempt. 4 Our soul has had more than enough of the scorn of those who are at ease, of the contempt of the proud.Sermon IntroI love a good Road Trip. But to me, the icing on the cake is a good Road Trip Playlist. I think there is an art to creating a good one. Of course, there’s going to be the cliche “Life is a Highway” included. But there’s a lot of factors that go into creating the perfect playlist. Who is the audience, where are ya headed, and how long are you going to be in the car? Like for our Youth Fellowship Road Trip Playlist….It’s been years in the making and is currently 23hours and 48 minutes long. The variety takes you on a roller coaster ride of different volumes and vibes. But amidst the pop and Disney show tunes there’s always songs like “1979” by the Smashing Pumpkins for the guy in the back that likes some quality music.This summer we have been going through the Psalms of Ascent that were, in a very real way, a road trip playlist for pilgrims as they made their way up (physically and spiritually) to Jerusalem. They cover a variety of themes and emotions.There are 15 of them and today we come to the 4th track on the Pilgrimage Playlist, Psalm 123…that encourages us toThesis: Look to the Lord 4 points for us today, the problem, the practice, the plea, and the promise.1. The Problem (3b-4)We see the problem here at the end of verse 3 into verse 4. for we have had more than enough of contempt. 4 Our soul has had more than enough of the scorn of those who are at ease, of the contempt of the proud.We aren’t told the original context but contempt and scorn is coming at the people of God from the rich and accomplished…those who are at ease and proud. ILLUS- Whoever said, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me” is a liar. A broken bone can heal, but verbal abuse can cause long lasting damage. But this contempt and scorn goes far beyond playground mocking and name calling. It’s a looking down on someone as though they weren’t even human. In the sermon on the mount Jesus ranks these words as more murderous than anger. This is belligerent animosity and hatred toward God, His Word and His people. We know that this is a part of living the Christian life. All those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. If they persecuted me, Jesus said, they will persecute you, my followers. We are sent out as sheep in the midst of wolves. -Now, unfortunately, some Christians are just punks and they call it persecution when they receive backlash. So friend, don't be a jerk, be as harmless as a dove, but be prepared for the scorn and contempt of those who don’t hate God and His people. Let’s jump back up to the beginning to see…2. The Practice (1-2) A. Look Up to the Majestic One (1) B. Look Up to the Merciful One (2)3. The Plea (2b-3)4. The Promise
