Psalm 103:1-12
Praise the Lord, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
who forgives all your sin
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
The Lord works righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel:
The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbour his anger forever;
he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
Luke 7:36–50
Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”
Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”
“Tell me, teacher,” he said.
“Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he cancelled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt cancelled.”
“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.
Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”
Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Remembering Grace is central to worship
One of the privileges of being a clergyman is that you get to be involved with people at the pivotal points in their life - baptisms, weddings, funerals and the like. And in my previous medical job that was even more the case - as we supported people through worrying illnesses, family breakdown, births and deaths. And I was always struck by how appreciative - or not - people were of our efforts. As a GP practice we always did quite well at Christmas with generous gifts of boxes of chocolates and bottles of wine - we used to divide all the goodies up between the Receptionists and everyone took home a nice little collection of luxuries on Christmas Eve.
We certainly didn't in any way solicit gifts - but it was often the case that the individuals and families with whom we had really gone the extra mile didn't show much appreciation at all - and by contrast the people for whom we felt we hadn't really done that much lavished their gratitude.
And it's the same in this job - whether or not I get a card or an email of thanks after I've conducted a wedding or a funeral bears no relationship to the amount of time or effort I've spent on preparation. Again, I don't expect a card or an email - but it is very nice when you get some sort of appreciative note after the event.
But maybe the culture of sending thank you notes and cards has declined. Certainly, the concept of the thank-you letter that as children we always had to sit and write at Christmas-time and after our birthdays has all but vanished. I guess you don't have to write a letter or send and email to be thankful for something - but it is nice to share that gratitude with others, not least the person who gave the gift or the service or whatever it was.
My great aunt, Aunty May, was a joy to be with in her later years because she was always so thankful - she would tell everyone about the kindnesses of friends, the good things that had happened to her that week. I don't recall her ever moaning or complaining. In the words of the old hymn, she really counted her blessings one by one.
We've started a new sermon series for these next few weeks about worship - what it means, why it matters, how we do it. And today's subject is 'Reasons for Praise' - it's a sermon about thankfulness. And we're turning to the great psalmist King David for our guidance today. I am a huge fan of King David - he lived 1000 years before Christ, he came from a humble background as a shepherd, and he led the Israelites as their king in the golden years of prosperity and blessing.
He was as flawed a man as you or I - probably more so, as an adulterer and a murderer - and yet he loved God and was loved by God. If you read his psalms, you realise he felt all the same emotions that we share - sadness, joy, anxiety, hope, despair, gratitude. David really wore his heart of his sleeve. And he did that through the medium of poetry - he wrote probably 75 of the 150 Psalms in our bibles. And they are full of emotion. And today's psalm is no exception - Psalm 103 is a paean of praise to the God David loved.
So, let's take a few moments to see what exactly David is praising God about - and how it might instruct us in our worship. And we find there a very good template for our own prayers, with 4 things to remember:
1. Remembering to be thankful
vv1-2 Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.
I've already alluded to the hymn written by the American preacher Johnson Oatman Jr in 1897.
Count your blessings, name them one by one;
Count your blessings, see what God hath done;
To be honest I prefer David's way of putting it but the point is, we need consciously to reflect on what God has done. It's good to spend time enumerating those blessings.
I belong to a small prayer group of local clergy who meet once a week to pray for each other - and the person who leads it always encourages us as we start to read a section of a psalm and use the words as a means of praising God. It can be very easy to get wrapped up in all the stresses and pressures of life - to miss out on gratitude to God, literally in the words of psalm 103 to forget all his benefits. If we forget all his benefits, we are in danger of forgetting the Lord - and drifting away from a close relationship with him. And that can have consequences for our spiritual health and our growth in faith. So, that's where our worship needs to begin -
Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits
2. Remembering the blessings we have experienced
vv3-5 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
When we look up a psalm, we often find a sub-heading in the first verse telling us the circumstances in which it was written. It might say something like - Of David, when he escaped from the hand of Absalom, or something like that.
Now we don't know the circumstances of psalm 103 - David doesn't tell us. But if we read between the lines it sounds like there was a mixture of ill health and guilt - for David thanks God that his sins were forgiven and his diseases were healed.
David was only too aware of his own sin - for instance in his adultery with Bathsheba - and the fallout from that which included the sickness and death of the child borne from their adultery. David himself had experienced healing from sickness on more than one occasion. And while sin separates us from God, suffering sometimes draws us closer.
But it seems David had also been near death - whether physical death or spiritual death it's not clear. He was redeemed from the pit - that is, saved from death - and was crowned with love and compassion, and his youth, his energy was renewed. And remember this is a king writing these verses - who clearly values the crown of God's love & compassion more than a crown of gold and jewels. Whatever the particular circumstances, David had experienced these blessings, and he worships God by listing then and giving thanks. And he goes further:
3. Remembering the blessings God has promised
vv6-10 The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel: The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
David has been recalling ways he has been blessed personally by God. And that's a really good way to begin our own prayers & worship. But then he looks beyond himself to the revelation of God in history - the objective and cast-iron promises of a God who has involved himself with his people since the dawn of time. And to do so, he recalls God's meeting with Moses from Exodus 34 - you know, when God tucked Moses in a cleft in the rocks so he could pass by and reveal his name.
Exodus 34:5-6: Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.
He's looking at the character of God that he finds anchored in scripture and in history, above and beyond his own experience. And that's another source of worship. It's also a very good place for us to continue in our worship - as we feed on the scriptures and read of the character of God, the great things God has promised and has accomplished.
4. Remembering the core of the gospel:
vv 9-12 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
If we had to summarize the message of the Gospel, to summarize the essence of God's relationship with mankind - we can do it in one word: GRACE. For -
he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities
We place our trust in a God who forgives. A God who is prepared to wipe the slate clean.
But can that be right? Is it just, is it fair? Does that mean God forgives people who do bad things? Adulterers and murderers like David? Is he just sweeping sin under the carpet - in which case isn't that unfair on the good people who have lived life well? Well, the first thing to point out is that none of us is good enough to reach God's standard of holiness - as Paul tells us in Romans 3, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
David himself says the same in Psalm 53:
God looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.... there is no one who does good, not even one.
Maybe that shouldn't surprise us. Jesus said the greatest commandment is that you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. If that's the standard by which we are measured, I shall be the first to hold up my hand and plead guilty of failure.
Sadly, there is no lack of sin in our hearts. But God doesn't sweep it under the carpet - he banishes it. as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us Our sin and our hearts have been separated by 180 degrees - when God looks at our hearts, he can no longer see our sin; when he looks at our sin, he can no longer see us. How is that possible?
When David wrote this wonderful song of praise, 1000 years before Christ, he knew that his sin was dealt with. He knew that he could enjoy the blessings of God, that he was not being treated as he deserved. He knew that this was possible through the Grace of God - but he didn't know how.
You and I know about Jesus, so we know what lies behind GRACE. And if we think of the word as an acronym, it will be clear how God indeed makes it possible. For those five letters can stand for these five words: 'God's riches at Christ's expense’. And Grace is the heart of the Gospel - that Jesus Christ took our sin on his own shoulders on the cross, that it might be dealt with once and for all. That he would pay the price for our misdoings, taking the penalty in our place. And that, above all things, should fire up our worship. That's where our focus is anchored. That's what lifts our hearts and opens our lips.
For Grace - the gift of God's riches through our saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the greatest gift the Universe affords. It is central to all we think and do as Christians. And for that, we are forever thankful.