Psalm 103 - How Can I Remain Faithful in Worship?

We're going to look today in Psalm 103. So if you want to turn your Bibles to Psalm 103, this is an important passage of the Bible that really speaks to the privilege it is to know God. And why this shouldn't just matter for you, but also the opportunity. It should be for other people as well. last time we looked at the Psalms, which wasn't last week. It was the week before we were in Psalm 95, and Psalm 95 spoke to us about the importance of worship. Psalm 103 elaborates on that, and Psalm 103 doesn't just talk about the importance of worship, but Psalm 103 talks about the importance of sustained worship. How do you not just get wowed by God and say, yeah, he's great and move on, but rather stay in that heart of worship throughout all of your life? Psalm 103 is one of those Psalms that encourages your heart to stay in that position of worship throughout all of your days. And I think this Psalm knows that our tendency as human beings is to often get distracted and to get off course from the purpose that which you were created in the Lord. But the only way you truly walk in that creation is to stay in a heart of worship as you seek God's face. And Psalm 103 is that Psalm answering that question, how do we stay in that place of worship all of our days? What makes this Psalm unique from all the other Psalms is this Psalm is written by David, and a lot of the Psalms in the Bible are written towards a specific purpose, especially when David writes Psalms.

If you've ever studied the character of David, you would recognize David is a man of very high highs and very low lows. I mean, he went through it all emotionally. He was seemed like it was a very tumultuous life. When it comes when it comes to the heart of David, he had he was always rejoicing about something or in despair over something, and sometimes probably both at the same time. And a lot of his Psalms are written that way. But what makes Psalm 103 three unique is that none of that is happening in his life right now. At least you can. What you can tell from the Psalms that David is, as he's writing this psalm of worship, he's not necessarily going through a battle. He's not in a place of despair. He doesn't really have any enemies to speak of, and nor is he rejoicing over, over necessarily any, any significant event that has happened in his life. But rather this is more of a general or generic psalm about learning how to worship the Lord in a sustained way throughout all of your life. Now, just because I call it generic doesn't take away from its importance, but rather I think it should highlight it for us in helping us understand.

When I when I grab Ahold of the importance of this Psalm and why David wrote it, this is a Psalm that compels my life to worship the Lord all of my days. What does it look like for us to do that? In fact, when you look at this Psalm, the way that the psalmist begins, the first couple of verses, depending on which translation you read, the translator can either translate this first Hebrew word as bless or praise. The same idea, right? Praise the Lord, my soul, all my inmost being. Praise his holy name. Verse two. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits. And then at the very end of verse five, he summarizes it like this. This is the reason why. So that your youth is renewed like the eagles. So the psalmist, you see from the very beginning he's telling you this is the whole point of this Psalm for you is that your life would praise the Lord all of your days. And the reason I say all of your days, even though that phrase is not necessarily written here, is because the David, when he's writing the Psalm, he quotes this word praise three times and in a in a Hebrew mindset, any any time a word is used three times succinctly like this, it's to signify over and above anything else. This is to take precedent over all things in your life, that praise should be central to who you are.

In fact, this kind of praise will define who you are. So the psalmist is saying, if you want to know, the whole point of this Psalm is to inspire your heart and continue praise of the Lord. In fact, if you were to look at the end of the Psalm, you will see that word praise is used again four more times. So he begins and ends this psalm with the same idea that this would take preeminence in your life, that you would carry this heart of worship all of your days. And he tells you the result of that in verse five, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. The eagle is seen as an animal of strength and longevity. He's saying with this kind of focus on the Lord, this will be who you are all of your days. It's sort of like in the New Testament it says, though your outer body is wasting away, your inner spirit is being renewed day by day. And so the idea of who God is should rejuvenate your soul and worship of him and inspire you, inspire you as you move forward. So the question again How? How do we do that? How can we remain faithful in worship to the Lord all of our days? It's one thing to see the importance of who he is and recognize it and praise him. But man, we can get so easily distracted, lose sight, and before long we look back and think, how in the world did I get here? How do we sustain that? Well, point number one in your notes, the psalmist is already mentioned this at the end of verse two, and let me give it to you.

He says, do not forget, do not forget. And when we think about the idea of worship, there's a there's a couple of ways, I think, that the human soul needs to worship in and enjoys worship or should enjoy worship. One is we like to be captivated with the grandeur of things that are greater than ourselves. We like to be awestruck and wonder, and I think more so with children than adults. Sometimes you just get boring when you get older. You know, kids, the world is their playground all the time. They can always be captivated. Sometimes as adults we forget just how great things are, especially for when it comes to our walk with the Lord. But what we long to be inspired, we long to be captivated by the grandeur of creation. And if you're a believer, hopefully you attach that to the creator of it all. I mean, we'll go to places like the Grand Canyon to think about more than ourselves, right? To realize that the how spectacular life really is, or maybe go to the vastness of the ocean and we're reminded or you look at the beauty of the mountains, it puts your soul in this place of wonder that that's important.

And in addition to that, it's also important to recognize those things that should be foundational to who you are as a human being. At the core of your substance your identity what defines you. And this is exactly what the psalmist is going to get into both of those ideas that the that at the very root of your identity. What what's foundational to your substance. And at the same time, to remind your soul to be captivated by the beauty of that substance, as it should be in the Lord. And the first thing he says to us in these opening verses, praise the Lord all your soul. Praise, praise, and the reason we don't. At the end of verse two, he reminds us, is that we so easily forget. We forget. And this idea of forgetting is this failure to recall that we allow something else to shape us rather than what we were intended for. You know, we talked about when we looked at Psalm 95 that worship worship is what shapes you. And it's impossible for you as a human being not to worship something. You were created as a being to put your faith in something, and therefore whatever you put your faith in, you will ultimately worship. And what you worship, you will become. And I don't care what your faith background is, even if you're atheist, you as a human being will look for something to give you worth, value and meaning and whatever that is, you put trust in it and ultimately end up worshiping and that worship will shape you.

And when we forget the sacredness of who God is, it leads us down paths that God never intended for us. And this is what the psalmist is saying, that when we forget, we lose our way. In fact, following that similar idea, the Apostle Peter in Second Peter one, he says this for this very reason, because he's saying in a similar idea that we tend to get lost as human beings. He says, for this very reason, Make every effort to add to your faith, goodness and to goodness, knowledge and to knowledge, self-control and self-control, perseverance and to perseverance, godliness and to godliness. Mutual affection. And to mutual affection. Love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But look at this. So he's describing this is what a godly life should look like, right? But if you wonder how do you fail from reaching that? Verse nine. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind. Look at this. Forgetting. Forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. See, the whole point of what Peter is saying is like a person that lives a godly life. He's really not coming to this and saying, oh man, I got a list.

I got to perform the list. I got to try really hard at the list. What he's saying is, your life is ultimately compelled to live this way. When your life is saturated in who you are because of who God is and what he's done for you. When you see the significance of what Christ has accomplished for your life, the inspiration to your soul is to live such a way that what Peter describes in this passage is the natural outworking of a life that has not failed, or that has not failed to forget of the beauty of what you have in Jesus. Forgetting. Forgetting is the danger. Getting distracted from what should be preeminent to us is the danger. Now, for some of us that aren't good test takers. the word forgetting can stress you out, right? Like, my memory is failing, you know. Or. I've never. I never did good. I always started to spaz with anxiety when tests came. And I was a poor test taker. I can't remember a lot of things. I don't want one more thing. Maybe you got a little Add or ADHD and you're worried about getting distracted. Well, can I can I help you with that? With a similar thought that matches what Peter is saying. What the Psalm is saying comes from the Apostle Paul. And in Philippians chapter, chapter three verse 13, he helps us in this idea of our pursuit as believers, by allowing us to become laser focused in what the psalmist is talking about.

Look at this. He says this. But one thing I do forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if any of any of you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained. Here's what he's saying. If you're stressing about not remembering properly, Paul is saying, look, we'll make it simple. Forget everything else, right? And don't even, don't let any of that stuff be. Be who you are anymore. Let's lay it all aside. And rather rather, he's encouraging this way. Make your life about this one focus. This becomes your defining moment. This is what's supposed to shape who you are. This becomes the lens through which you view everything else in life. This then inspires you as you move forward and the greatness of who God is because of what he's done. He says at the very end of this verse, only let us hold true to what we have attained. He's saying that which you have in Christ, that is what belongs to you. That should become the foundational focus of everything that you are as a human being, rather than you getting distracted by something else.

And I love the reason that the Psalm is telling us this, that Peter is telling us this, that Paul is repeating this because they know who we are as human beings, and our tendency as people is to listen to a different story. The reason we get distracted is It's because we listen to a different story, and we let that story start to shape our lives, rather than the main story that helps us view all other stories that we encounter. And what I mean is this as a human being, you can go through life and get a thousand compliments, and then all of a sudden you get one criticism. And the thing that occupies your mind is the criticism to the point that you turn it within your soul. You won't let it go. And you will tell that story to yourself even though you know it's not healthy, even though you know it's not in proper perspective. To all the compliments you received, you will tell that story to yourself over and over again, and it will start to shape who you become. Same, same thing could be true. Even if you even if you did make a mistake and or you sinned. And that criticism was true, that you would you would take that sin and you would wear that sand and you would start to let that identity shape you rather than what Christ says about you. Because the scriptures made it clear that when Jesus died for you, he died for your guilt and your shame, which means that you can lay it all at the cross and be able to move forward.

Put the past in the past is what the Apostle Paul is saying, so that you could live in the newness of life for which you were created in Christ Jesus. But rather than do that, we turn it over and over in our mind, and we allow that story to become who we are not, rather who we're called to be because of what Christ has done for us. And so the psalmist is saying that the struggle that we have as human beings is the fact that we forget. And the reason we forget is because we forgot about the goodness that we have in Christ and the richness for which we've received in him. And in so doing, we've embraced another story. And that story is not the reason for which you were created But rather you were created to belong to him. And this is this is why the Apostle Paul says one thing. Do not forget this one thing, because this one thing becomes paramount for you. And understanding everything that you're called to in Christ and the lens through which you view every other encounter you have in this world. Which brings me to point number two in your notes. Point number two is this let the story of redemption be your story.

Let the story of redemption be your story. We can more specifically say it like this. May the story of Christ's redemption on your behalf be your defining story. Knowing you're going to have many chapters to your life. But there should be one grand narrative to who you are. And so you let the story of redemption be your story. And this is exactly what the psalmist is doing. He starts off by saying, okay, at the core of who you are, this is this is that defining moment that you come back to again and again. And then because of that, he then uses this psalm. We're only going to look at these first 14 verses. But he uses this psalm to sort of turn the lens of the gospel in our life over and over again, so that it would captivate our soul, that we would be impressed with the grandeur of God, and we would stand in wonder of who he is. And so in verse three he says it like this. He gives this idea of who this is. This word who is how he talks about the Lord in verse three, verse four and verse five, he tells us what God does for us because of who he is. And if you read this in different translations, some translations do this a little better than others. But you'll see in verse three there's actually two thoughts and some translations.

They distinguish both thoughts with the word who. They repeat it twice for you to make sure that you get it. And in verse four they do the same thing. And then in verse five they tell us the. One more time and the results of that. But what he's doing, he's telling the gospel story at the very beginning here he says, the Lord who forgives all your sins and who heals all your diseases. We'll talk about in just a minute who then redeems your life from the pit, and who crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. This is someone that's free from the past, walking in the newness of life because of what God has done. And that journey in the gospel starts with forgiveness in Christ. And then he says he. He heals disease. He redeems your life. He rescues you from the pit, which is hell. And rather, rather than just saying you're rescued from a pit, he also adds to your account the richness of who he is and what he's saying is God doesn't owe you anything, but in his grace, he forgives you anyway. His desire is to heal your life and not just rescue you from the pit of despair, but also give you the beauty of who he is that you get the richness of God in your life. Now some people, when they read this passage, they'll assume all of this can happen to its fullness right now.

And I want you to know that this is a projection of what the gospel will do for us into eternity. And one of the reasons I say that is some people will read this, a verse like this and see healing. And I know God can miraculously heal us, but it doesn't demand that God heal us all the time of everything right now. And one of the reasons I say that is if you read a passage like Second Samuel chapter 12, this psalm is written by David, and in second Samuel chapter 12, starting in verse 13, you see David's being confronted with the sin that he committed with Bathsheba, and his son is about to pass away. And David prays to God that his son wouldn't pass away, that God would heal him. And God did not heal his son in those moments, and his son passed away. Now, it doesn't make this statement untrue, but what it does is it's putting us in a perspective of what the Messiah will ultimately do for all of us that God will reconcile all wrong. Even the Bible tells us in Romans 822 and 23 that all of creation groans under the curse of sin, and we ourselves even groan, looking forward to the day of redemption when God heals all things. But that healing first starts in me, in you, in forgiveness that God would ultimately bring.

Bring us to the place where with him face to face, seeing all things reconciled and restored in him. And so the psalmist gives us this beautiful picture of the gospel, that we would stand in wonder of a God who didn't owe us anything. But he gave us everything by offering his life that we could be free in him. And then he goes on from there in verse six and seven and excuse me, verse six, six, seven, eight and nine. He says, the Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. I love that the psalmist goes here because the psalmist is going back, and he's actually quoting from Exodus 34, and I think he's quoting from here to talk to those of us that feel like we've failed. We've really messed up. We've made some mistakes. We've sinned in our life. We don't know that we can get past it. We don't know if God really forgives us. And he mentions this passage as if to us to recognize the greatness of who God is. Again, because in Exodus 34, if you read that story, you'll find this is right after the children of Israel had have left Egypt.

They've been set free from God. God's part of the Red sea. They've come across the Red sea, and now they've come to Mount Sinai. And God wants to give them the Ten Commandments. And all of this, miraculously, has happened recently for them. And God calls Moses up on the mountain, and God tells the children of Israel when he goes up on the mountain to get the commandments, keep following the Lord. Don't worship false idols. And as soon as Moses comes down from the mountain with the Ten Commandments, they're already worshiping a golden calf. And Moses immediately breaks the Ten Commandments because he knows that Israel has already violated him, and this would put a curse on them. And God's going to bring judgment against the children of Israel for violating the very commandments he just told them not to. After he has miraculously rescued them and Moses cries out to the Lord on their behalf and God tells Moses, Moses, you're right. I'm a God of covenant faithfulness, that while the children of Israel have been unfaithful to me, I will be faithful to my people. That's who I am. And God then reveals or shares with them the nature of who he is. And he tells us that in Exodus 34, verse six and seven, that's where you get this passage that he acts to his people Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love. It's a reminder to Israel that when they abandon God, God remains faithful to who he is, because his nature is not flippant and determined on what you do.

He is always consistent with who he is. He is merciful. He is loving. He is caring. In fact, this is such an important passage in Scripture that when you read the Old and New Testament, you'll find the Old and New Testament writers quote this verse through scripture more than any other verse in the Bible. And this verse is dealing with the identity of who God is, that you would recognize him even in your failures. And I love the reason. I love that this is quoted so much in the Bible, because it is because God knows who we are as human beings, that when we fail, when we mess up, our tendency rather than run to God is to run away from God. And the reason we run away from God is because we forget We forget who he is and we start to tell ourselves a different story. And the story of his redemption is no longer the story that we're allowing to shape our lives. And the psalmist is reminding you, when you look at the beauty of the gospel, it's to say to you over and over again the greatness of who God is, that your heart would be captivated in wonder and worship. He goes on and says it like this. He says he does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.

So there's what we are owed, and God doesn't give us what we are owed or what we deserve, but rather, for as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love towards those who fear him. And to the great unknown far beyond your eye can see. That's God's love towards you. And he says, as far as the east is from the West so far does he remove our transgressions from us. It sin is what destroys your relationship with the Lord. And what he's saying here is God so far wants to remove you from sin, that when he looks at you, he sees the beauty of who Jesus is. I love this that some people look at a passage like this and think, oh, God's a forgetful God, right? Like God looks at you and is like, oh yeah, that's what's his face. Who did that thing? Wait a minute. I can't remember what that thing was anymore, right? All of a sudden, God's just lost his mind. That's not what this passage is saying, right? God is sovereign. God knows all things. But what this passage is saying is that when God sees you, he's so far removed you from the sin that destroys you that when he sees you, what he sees is the perfection of Christ over you. He sees you as if he's looking at Jesus.

That's how much God loves you. In fact, if I just really focus our attention on these last couple of words in verse 13 and 14, he goes on to describe not just what he does but who he is he. Up until this point, it's shared with us all the glorious things that God does for us as we looked at the gospel for inspiration of worship. But here in this passage, he now tells us, and the reason he does this is because of who he is. And in verse 13, as a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame, and he remembers that we are dust. He goes on to there and describes just how frail we are as human beings, meaning helping us recognize how much we truly do need the Lord. But one of the ways he illustrates that is by reminding us that he is a father. He is a father towards you, which speaks volumes to the intimacy of his care for you. And I know sometimes in life we may not have always had a great earthly father, but I think it's far more important to paint the picture of what a father should be through Scripture, because this is the identity that God has towards us, or the way that God describes himself for us. And in Scripture. This is a very important thought to consider, because in a religious mentality, this is not an idea that we often gravitate towards.

Or this may be a word that we're familiar with, but when we when we interact with God, it's not in this way in a religious mentality, the way that we often perceive God is this ultimate killjoy who's only there to tell me when I'm doing things wrong, and therefore I've got to sort of live my life in a way that hopefully he's he can find find me a little bit pleased with who I am and hopefully I've done enough that he would he would accept me. But you never really have the confidence that you are. That's the religious mentality. But that's not the way God describes himself in Scripture, that he is a father that cares for you even when you fall. He desires the best for you and so he pursues you. He doesn't give up on you. He wants to see you mature in him, and he's done so by giving his very life for you, that God has become flesh and given his life for you. And so to refer to God as father from a religious mentality is a very scandalous phrase. In fact, Jesus often did that when he talked about who God was to the people around him. He referred to him as a father, and he was treated with contempt to think among those religious people that he would bring God down to such a personal level.

But this is exactly who God is and how God wants to be made known in your life. He made you for relationship in him. In fact, when Jesus taught us to pray, he said to us in Matthew chapter six, like this in verse nine, pray this way. Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name. So he's acknowledging the sacredness of God, talking about hallow holy, but also the intimacy that we can have with God because he is Father. A father desires to be near his children You think the power of who God is? The preeminence of God, yet the intimacy that God desires to be near when you when you consider your own culture. People have prominent positions. If you just use by example, maybe the president of the United States. I mean, how many of you know the president of the United States on a personal level? I mean, you spend all your life maybe trying to get just a few minutes with the president of the United States? Highly unlikely. And if you ever were to ever be in front of the president of the United States with the very few seconds that you get the only title that you can say towards him if you're being respectful is Mr. President, right? Or Mr.. Mrs. president, I guess depending on who it is, you can refer to them as the as the president. But there's one person that has access to the president and gets the privilege to refer to him by a different title, and that's his child.

The president would have intimate concern for the well-being of his child. That child can get his attention. That child gets to call him by a different name. Father. This is what God has given you the opportunity to do when he didn't owe you anything, that you would know him. Now, I think it's significant to recognize not everyone is a child of God. Not everyone is a child of God. In fact, everyone is made in the image of God. That's true. It gives us all intrinsic value as human beings. But not everybody is a child of God. That's why in Romans eight it encourages you to be adopted by the father. In John chapter one verse 12, it says, but to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become the children of God. It's to those who embrace that story, that redemptive story of Christ, that it would become your story that what Jesus did on the cross isn't just a story, but it's the defining moment of your life and that you do not forget. But you continue to look at the beauty of what the gospel is and what that means for you. Now, some of us, some of us, when we see a story like that, we think, well, but can God really love me? Does God really forgive? Forgive me. Do you not know what I did? How do I really know that God cares for me in this way? Well, I think one of the most important passages in all of the Bible to reflect on deals with the death of Jesus on the cross.

I mean, that is the redemptive story in its most particular way, that Jesus would die on your behalf, that you would be free in him. But one of the reasons I know that what Christ accomplished on the cross gives you the freedom to call God your father is because of what Jesus said on the cross. And the final moments of Jesus's life in Matthew 27, verse 46, he gave that famous statement, Eli, Eli, lama sebastiani, which is My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Can I tell you the only time that Jesus ever refers to the father and doesn't use the title? My father? Is it in this moment on the cross? Every other time in the New Testament when Jesus talks about God, he always references him as his father. But this one incident on the cross, he referred to him as My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Now why would Jesus do that? And the answer is because Jesus took on the debt that you owed and was forsaken by the father, so that you would not have to be. Jesus paid the price for your life so that you could have the intimate relationship with God and all of Jesus's time talking about the father.

This is the only time in the gospels he ever referred to the father in a different way, and it was to declare to you what you would ultimately receive because of what he has done on the cross. If you take the redemptive story of Christ, and that story becomes your defining story through which all other chapters of your life are written. It's the lens through which you view yourself that you would never forget, and that his story would be your story. I want to close with this ending here. This is a. Fiorello! Fiorello! Fiorello! There we go. Laguardia. If you've ever flown into LaGuardia airport. This is the guy that the airport is named after. And what's important about this man is he was. He was the mayor of New York City in 1935. Up until or excuse me, 34, up until the end of World War II. So he was there during the end of the Great Depression, all the way into World War Two. And the city loved him. They referred to him as their little flower. He was small in stature, but considered an impressive man. And in 1935. One unique thing that he did at the end of the Great Depression, he, he went to night court and he dismissed the judge from the bench, and he sat in the position of the judge. And on that particular night, there was a grandmother who was on trial, and she was brought to the court because she had she had stolen bread from the local grocery store.

And the mayor asked her, why did you steal the bread? And she told the story. She said, well, I'm taking care of my grandchildren now. And the reason I'm taking care of my grandchildren is because her husband left her, and when he left her, she became ill and she's unable to do anything. She's bedridden. And so I'm not only taking care of my grandchildren, I'm also taking care of my daughter. And I don't have the means to support my family. And so, out of desperation to feed my grandchildren, I went to the grocery store and I stole a loaf of bread in order to provide for them. And at that moment, the mayor looked at the grocery store clerk and asked, do you want to press charges? And the grocery store clerk said. Absolutely. I want to press charges. I want to make an example out of her. So other people in the neighborhood won't steal too. They need to know it's not okay. And the mayor, disappointed that the grocery store clerk took such a strong stand against this elderly lady who's trying to raise her grandchildren. He said, ma'am, you're guilty, and so you're going to have to pay the fine, which is $10. But as he was saying this to the grandmother, he was reaching in his pocket, and he immediately pulled out the $10, and he stepped from behind the bench and he went down to the bailiff, and he dropped $10 in the plate.

And he went back up and said, but, ma'am, you're fine has been paid. But not only that, I believe it's atrocious that people in the city would be okay for a woman like this to have to live in a city like this. So because people like this allowed, allowed this to happen to you, I'm fining everyone in this courtroom $0.50 because they let a grandmother go through this situation. And the grocery store clerk was one of the first one they collected the fee from, and he was frustrated by that. But that night that woman not only had her fine paid, but she received above and beyond what she deserved because of what she had done wrong. Guys, can I tell you that's exactly what the Lord does for you? He not only forgives your past, he doesn't just equal your balance to zero. He fills up your life with the richness of who he is. That's the gospel. When we forget that, we move away not just from his story, but what should be our story. But when we understand the beauty of who he is that shapes us in our worship, and our desire is to never let go of the wealth that we have in Christ.